Cursed grey
by moonlightdreamer1
Summary: This is an AU. Poppy was almost cursed grey as a child by an evil enchantress but Branch took the curse for her and it changed his life in amazing ways. I decided to post this up because so many people liked the Grey King, I hope you will all enjoy this too.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one:

When princess Poppy had been only two years old a powerful troll enchantress demanded that she be betrothed to her son. King Peppy had refused he would not allow his daughter to be betrothed to a troll she did not even know let alone love. The King's refusal to do as the enchantress wanted caused her to try to lay the powerful curse of the grey also known as the curse of the unhappy broken heart on the young princess. What she had not counted on however was that unbeknown to King Peppy's people there was an enchanter amongst them, young Branch had stepped between the curse and the princess taking it for her. The curse turned him grey, he lost his ability to be happy, to sing, to dance and it gave him a broken heart. Despite the enchantress's curse, Branch had drawn himself up and cast his own spell turning himself into the protector of the troll tree and the princess before the young troll had then banished the enchantress from the tree.

King Peppy had made sure that what Branch had done to save Poppy and what the grey troll had become was kept a secret from his people. When those few trolls who had known about what had happened passed away, Branch slipped into obscurity becoming the resident village outcast. There was however one thing which the troll King was unable to erase, Branch's actions had left a mark on his back it was a green tree with a gold crown round it's trunk and a pink heart with a poppy in its centre which was in the middle of the crown. In order to hide this mark from his people King Peppy had ordered the grey troll to wear a top which would cover the mark on his back. As this was a royal command Branch had no choice but to obey it. The King made sure any trolls who asked were told that Branch had become grey after losing his grandmother as such a young age. The grey troll wanted to contradict Peppy's words but he knew that he could not because of the fact that Peppy was the King of the trolls and he was just a common troll.

The grey troll knew that the enchantress was not likely to give up without a fight so he read everything he could about magic most of which came from the books left to him by his long dead parents and grandmother all of whom had been enchanters and enchantresses. In order to practice his magic in safety and secrecy Branch built his home away from the troll tree underground. So it was that the years passed and alone in his dark home underground, the grey troll practiced his magic until it was strong and reliable. Branch because of his curse stayed away from the happy events in the troll tree which meant that the trolls and the princess continued to be totally unaware of their magical protector. He also learnt to be self-sufficient and it wasn't long before his underground home was well stocked with food and water. Branch taught himself how to use parts of plants in order to heal wounds and to cure any ills so that if he needed that knowledge for any reason he had it. The grey troll loved to invent new things, whether they be something useful such as cogs and gears or just something beautiful like metal ornamental hair combs.

It was when the grey troll was ten that one of the other trolls discovered part of his secret. Creek had been out for a calming walk in the forest, when he came across the grey troll sitting on a rock. The purple troll had been about to say something about how unusual it was to see Branch out in the open when he realised that the other troll was topless and there was something on his back. As Creek took in the mark on Branch's back his blue eyes went wide, it wasn't possible he knew from his father's teaching that only the protector of the troll tree was supposed to have that mark. The purple troll moved closer to get a better look at Branch's back, as he got closer Creek could see the detail of the mark much better, this wasn't just the mark of the one who protected the troll tree, the crown represented the great troll King and the poppy heart clearly stood for Branch being the one who protected the princess too. From somewhere Creek found his voice and addressed the grey troll. "That mark."

Branch gave a surprised start, he turned to look at Creek and his eyes went wide. "Oh no…" The grey troll threw on his leaf vest which quickly covered the mark away. "Please Creek you can't tell anyone. The King would be furious if any of the other trolls found out about this."

Usually Creek would find Branch begging him like this amusing but the purple troll was well aware that this was a serious situation and knew deep down that betraying Branch's secret would be very unwise for both of them. Creek let out a deep sigh and then gave Branch a nod. "I won't tell anyone I promise."

As Branch looked at the other troll he could tell that Creek was being serious in his promise and the blue troll was grateful for this fact. "Thank you."

"I do however have a question how…How did you get that mark?"

Reluctantly the grey troll began to explain what had happened and what he was to the other troll. "I saved princess Poppy from a curse by taking it on myself…The tree chose me because of what I did, so I became the protector of the troll tree and of the princess." Branch reached round and touched the mark on his back. "It's a bond I can't undo and one I wouldn't wish to undo. I'm still learning what being both of those things entail for me…"

Creek moved closer to the grey troll. "The curse…That's really why you are grey isn't it?"

Branch gave him a single nod. "King Peppy has me a hide it and everything that happened to me from all of the other trolls. He wants to protect Poppy from everything and I cannot blame him for that. I've had to carry my secrets for a long while…I didn't plan on ever telling any troll."

The purple troll placed a hand onto the shoulder of the other troll. "I know that you have little reason to trust me but I want to tell you something…I knew there was something different about you…I could sense it and see it in your aura…I didn't know how to react what I could sense. I'll be the first to admit I've been an idiot around you but I want to change that."

"Why…?"

"Because I understand your protective streak of Poppy now…And now I know what you are, I can help you with what you need to do." Creek told him keeping his eyes locked with those of the other troll trying to convey his sincerity to him.

"It may take time before I trust you completely Creek." Branch told him honestly.

"I understand that, if I were the protector of the troll tree and the princess I would be careful of anyone wanting to become close to me too." As the purple troll spoke he decided to say nothing about the crown part of Branch's mark yet, it was clear that the other troll already had a lot to deal with already without that knowledge to. Little did Creek know that Branch was already aware of the crown part of his mark, he just avoided thinking about what it meant.

So it was that the two trolls came to a truce and each evening the two trolls would meet up in the same clearing were they had first met. Creek and Branch talked about all sorts of general things, slowly trust came the purple troll spoke about his dead father and how it had effected his life and that it had made his already spiritual mother even more spiritual than before. Branch returned his trust by talking about never knowing his mother and father as they had died when he was very young, he had also told the purple troll all about being raised by his grandmother.

It was two weeks later when Creek got to see how the mark affected Branch's life, they had been sitting by a lake sitting together talking when Branch had let out a hiss of pain. The purple troll quickly looked at the other troll, he was leant forward, his eyes were closed and Branch had one of his hands was under his vest on his back. Suddenly Branch stood, his hand fell away from his back, his eyes opened, they had a distant look in them which unnerved Creek slightly. "Poppy…" Branch said softly.

The spiritual troll came up onto his feet and stood beside the grey one. "The princess needs her protector doesn't she?" The eyes of the grey troll focused on Creek and gave him a nod. "Then let's go." The purple troll said encouragingly to Branch.

Together they dashed off into the forest, Creek didn't know how Branch knew which way to go but he was sure it had something to do with him being Poppy's protector. Eventually they both started to hear the cries of distress, this caused both trolls to run faster and when they found Poppy she was being attacked by a gala bird. An expression of furry came onto the face of the grey troll and Creek found himself suddenly glad that he had decided to stop teasing Branch and become his friend. The grey troll ran straight for the bird snatching a sharp spike off of a nearby plant as he went, Creek ran to the side of the princess, the purple troll pulled the pink one up out of the grass, as Branch jumped on the bird and brought the long sharp spike plunging down into it.

The bird let out a cry of fear and pain, Creek could see that the princess wasn't badly hurt, so he grabbed hold of the pink troll's hand, quickly the purple troll ran with her to some nearby tall grass and looked down at the younger troll and said to her in commanding tones. "Blend in princess."

Poppy gave him a nod before quickly still hand and hand both of them blended into the tall grass. The princess found that she was unable to take her eyes off of the battle before her, Branch was to her amazement was fighting the gala bird off with both his hair and the sharp spine. Eventually the bird realising that it could not defeat the grey troll and it was wasting it's time here the bird flew off with a disgruntled noise. Branch let out a relived breath, he turned to where he had seen Creek take the princess and said simply. "It's over."

Both of them came out from where they had been hiding, the purple troll spoke to the other male troll. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…Creek you should take Poppy home."

Creek gave Branch a nod, he led Poppy away from the clearing and back to the troll tree. The purple troll escorted the princess all the way to the royal pod, he explained what had happened to King Peppy. The King looked at his daughter then back to Creek before saying. "Give Branch my thanks Creek."

"I will King Peppy." With this assurance given the purple troll headed back into the forest and back towards the clearing were he and Branch always met. He knew that the grey troll would more than likely be there as he would want to make sure that Poppy was alright and had arrived home safely. Sure enough Creek found Branch in the clearing he was holding out his right hand and concentrating, the purple troll wondered what he was doing. Then slowly Branch started to glow with a sky blue light, Creek's eyes went wide as all at once a sword appeared in his hand, the hilt was shaped to look like a tree, the blade of the sword came from the roots of the tree. "Oh wow!" Creek said loudly, Branch jumped and turned towards him. "You know what sword that is don't you?" The purple troll asked the other.

The grey troll gave him a nod. "Yes I do…It started appearing shortly after you left with Poppy…Is she alright?"

"Yeah it doesn't surprise me that the sword should start appearing to you after what happened…Yes Poppy is fine. Poppy is lucky to have you as her protector, I'd never seen any troll take on a gala bird and manage to get it to leave before today. You fight well but then again you certainly keep yourself fit from all the physical work you do, so I should have expected you to be able to fight well."

Creeks words caused Branch to let out a small snort of laughter. "Looks like I am going to have to learn how to use this too…"

"Branch you have to say something this is the second sign now that you are the K…"

"Don't!" The grey troll said interrupting Creek midsentence. "Don't say it…Please don't say it…Poppy deserves her own choice. You can't say anything about this…"

"You knew didn't you about the crown…" Branch gave him a nod and Creek spoke to the other troll again. "I won't say anything…Look how about this I will make you a promise right here and right now. King Branch, true King of the troll tree and all the trolls, I swear on all I hold sacred I will not betray what you are to anyone. Whatever you tell me unless you give me permission I will not tell any other troll, your secrets are my secrets everything will stay between us." As Creek spoke he knelt down on one knee before Branch, who stared down at him wide eyed with disbelief. "You are the true King of the trolls Branch, you are the first great King in centuries and I acknowledge that and to you I freely pledge my loyalty."

"Creek…" Was all the shocked grey troll was able to say, he hadn't been aware that Creek had even known about how to make a pledge of loyalty, but then again the purple trolls father had taught his son a lot of things about the old ways.

"Will you take my pledge my King?" The purple troll asked him with complete seriousness, as Creek looked up at him he could see the silver leafy circlet or crown of the King of the troll tree was now ringing the grey troll's brow.

Branch gave the other troll a nod. "I take your promise and pledge Creek."

"Thank you my King." The purple troll said before he rose to his feet again.

"I can't believe you just did that…" Branch said blushing, Creek reached out, he gently touched the circlet on the brow of the grey troll. Startled Branch reached up he also touched the circlet. "What…?"

"It's the Kings circlet or crown…" The purple troll told him.

Branch closed his eyes, he reached up, the grey troll took the circlet off and then looked at it in his hands. "So I really am the great King…"

Creek gently took the circlet out of the hands of the grey troll, he looked at it for a moment, the purple troll knew only Branch could wear the circlet as he had been chosen by the troll tree. Creek placed the circlet back onto the head of the other troll, he watched with awe as the same blue light glowed from Branch again, causing the sword and crown to vanish. "So, are you going to tell me what the blue light is yet?"

Sighing the grey troll settled cross legged on to the forest floor and Creek sat next to him also cross legged. "It's difficult…I've hidden so much for so long."

"I understand that…Look you can tell me when you are ready. I'm learning to meditate from my mother…Would you like me to teach you too?"

"I'm not sure I am spiritual enough for such a thing." Branch told him with honesty.

Creek looked at the other troll sitting next to him. "Trust me you don't need a lot of spirituality in order to meditate and it might do you some good."

"Alright."

So it was that Creek started to teach Branch to meditate, the purple troll got to watch as the grey troll practiced summoning and fighting with his sword. It was a month later one evening after they had meditated together that Branch at last told Creek what the blue light was. "You wanted to know what the light was…"

"Yes, do you feel ready to tell me?"

"Yeah I do…It's my magic…I'm an enchanter that's how I could take the curse for Poppy…And get rid of the enchantress who cast the curse."

Creek stared at the other troll in silence for a few moments before he asked. "How old were you then?"

"Five…I didn't exactly know what I was doing I did it purely by instinct. Now I'm stuck like this…I know what can cure it but…That's not going to happen."

"What is the cure to your curse?" The purple troll asked with interest.

Branch looked up at the moon for a few moments before he answered this question. "True love…"

Creek shook his head at the other troll. "Wow, no wonder you say it's not going to happen…What a mess."

The grey troll let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "Yeah trust me I know…I worry about Poppy…You know I told you I was cursed in her place, I think the one who cursed me is going to come back and try to finished what was started."

Creek could hear the seriousness in the voice of the other troll, the spiritual troll gulped and those words sent worry running through him. "What will happen if they come back?"

Branch didn't answer, the silence stretched between them and in its own way the silence became the answer to the purple troll's question. Creek shivered, the purple troll wrapped his arms round himself and shuddered again. He had a terrible feeling that whatever would happen if the one to curse Branch came back to the troll tree it was not going to be a good thing in the slightest. Shortly after this the two trolls parted ways for the night, but when Creek got back to his pod his thoughts were still on the grey troll. He was only just starting to realise what Branch had already been through and the weight he had to carry even now. Now more than ever the purple troll regretted the way he had acted towards Branch in their early years and felt ashamed for the fact that all of the other trolls treated the grey troll as an outcast. Creek was determined to keep his promises to Branch, the spiritual troll also wanted to make sure that he was a good and supportive friend to the other troll.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two:

Two years after this the friendship between Creek and Branch was more solid than it had ever been before, it had at first surprised both trolls that they had found a very good friend in each other but they wouldn't change the way things stood between each other now. Creek had watched as over the past two years as Branch had learned to control his powers more and it felt so good to him that the other troll felt safe enough around him now to use his magic more openly around him now. The purple troll was endlessly amazed at what the other troll could do with his magic and the strength of it. Branch had also been working on how to control his reaction to when the mark hurt him to let him know he was needed. It had taken a lot of time but now when the mark hurt him Branch would simply stand still just for a moment, just long enough to let Creek know it was calling him into action and then Branch would go. The last thing which the grey troll had been working on was making the sword appear and disappear when he wanted and making sure that it would do so separate from the circlet.

Over the time which had passed the two trolls had worked out ways for Creek to cover for the grey troll when he needed to use his magic or if his mark caused him trouble in any way. Branch learnt to meditate and breathing exercises from Creek, the grey troll had to admit he found the meditating very relaxing and the breathing exercises helped him when he needed to control his magic. In return for these lessons from the purple troll, the grey troll had started to teach the other troll his knowledge of the wild, which Creek found surprisingly fascinating and even useful on occasion. During this time, Branch, had also discovered a way to use his magic to conceal his mark, the grey troll was relieved that now whenever he took off his top the mark couldn't be seen by other trolls it made many things in his life a lot easier than they had been.

Today was Branch's birthday, Creek knew that he was the only troll in the troll tree to know that fact, the purple troll had a birthday gift for his friend hidden in his two tone hair. Creek was aware of the fact that Poppy was tailing him today, he knew that this was because the nine year old princess was becoming more curious about the relationship between himself and Branch with every year that passed. The purple troll was fairly sure that Branch would not be at all pleased if the princess found out that it was his birthday today, so he set his mind to making sure that Poppy didn't follow him to their meeting spot. Quickly Creek made his way into one of the busy parts of the troll tree, he did all he could to lose the younger troll amongst the throng of trolls gathered there and eventually the purple troll managed to do just that. Once this was done, Creek made his way out of the troll tree and then he headed into the forest to the meeting place.

Branch was already there sitting on the grass waiting for him as was usual. "Hey Creek."

"Hey Branch, happy birthday." The purple troll said cheerfully to the other troll as Branch rose from the grass.

"Thanks." The grey troll said with sincerity.

"I have a gift for you." Creek told him with a smile, as he pulled out of his hair a bow and a quiver of arrows.

"Creek where did you get this?" Branch asked with shock as he took them from his friend.

The purple troll blushed slightly and scratched the back of his head with embracement. "I found an old book on how to make them and after a few false starts I made them."

"You made these…Wow." Branch said with awe in his voice.

"Don't say that yet, I have no idea if it will work." Creek admitted to the other troll.

"Well I guess that there is only one way to find out if it will work or not." Branch put the simple black leather quiver on over his left shoulder, he drew an arrow from the quiver and then tried the bow out. His first shot wasn't very good but neither the bow or arrow broke, both trolls looked at each other and then they started to laugh at Branch's bad shooting. When the grey troll had caught his breath again he said to Creek. "Well your gift works…Now I just need to learn how to use it."

"I thought that might be the case." Creek pulled a book out of his hair and handed it over to the grey troll. "This should help."

"Thank you Creek." Branch told him with honesty as he realised that this book was all about archery and should teach him the basics. The grey troll knew that now all would need to do was make sure to read everything in this book and then practice his shooting as much as possible. "Creek these were wonderful gifts, but I have to ask what ever made you think of making them for me?"

The purple troll shrugged at the other troll and said honestly. "I thought that something like this might be of use to you as the protector."

"I am sure that it will be, thank you so much." The grey troll quickly took the quiver back off his shoulder, he stashed the quiver, the bow and book into his black hair.

When he had done this the two trolls settled down on the grass together and they then meditated together for a while. Once they had finished doing this Creek spoke to Branch. "Poppy is still following me around. I think that she is following me so she can try to get to know you…I need to ask you is it possible that Poppy can feel the bond of protection between the two of you?"

Branch let out a sigh and then answered the question from the other troll. "I'd always worried that once Poppy became older that she might start to feel the bond of protection between us…Poppy won't know what it is, so hopefully eventually the princess will become so use to it being there that she won't realise that it is anything important."

"You know it isn't supposed to be that way…" Even as Creek said this he knew that there wasn't really anything Branch could do about his situation, after all it wasn't like the grey troll could explain what had happened to him without hurting the princess and her relationship with her father.

"Yes…I know but it has to be that way." Branch said with a tone of finality. After this the two trolls fell silent both lost in their thoughts.

It would be only a few months later when Creek would become part of Poppy's close friend group, which the princess called the snack pack, they were all younger trolls between the age of nine and twelve. The pink troll even included Branch much to his surprise as a member of the snack pack, she would make sure to involve the grey troll in anything and everything they did. Even if he wasn't totally willing to be involved Poppy wouldn't take no for an answer and would drag Branch along with them. The grey troll felt that the princess only included him as a member of the snack pack because he was close to Creek and was a mystery to her, one Poppy wanted to solve. To some extent Branch was glad of this inclusion in their group because it meant he could more easily keep an eye on Poppy but at the same time the grey troll found the energy and permanent happiness of the princess and all of her other friends very tiring at times.

It was three years after this when the two male trolls were fifteen that Creeks mother suddenly passed away from a short illness. The purple troll found himself leaning on Branch a great deal at this time and the grey troll supported his friend without any complaint and with complete understanding, after all Branch completely understood what Creek was going through as he had been there himself. The spiritual troll found himself feeling very grateful that Branch was his friend, as the grey troll took on organising his mother's funeral for him, as well as helping Creek to organise and store all of his mother's things away so that the purple troll could do what he wanted to with them when he felt ready. The rest of the snack pack did their best to help Creek get through his bereavement but they didn't understand the situation as well as Branch did and being the happy trolls the snack pack where they found it hard to deal with all of Creeks sadness even if it was understandable. This loss brought both Creek and Branch even closer than they had been before, as they were both now orphans and this fact brought them an even deeper understanding of each other.

A month after the death of Creeks mother, the purple troll and the grey troll were sitting on the grass at their usual meeting spot when Branch made a suggestion to the other troll one which had been going around in his head for a long while. "Creek what do you think of the idea of us becoming soul brothers?"

The purple troll gave his companion a startled look and then smiled at him. "I like that idea, it would give us a bond that would make us like a family…We've been acting more like brothers around each other anyway and since we don't share blood it would make a lot of sense for us to become soul brothers."

Branch gave the other troll one of his small half smiles and then said. "Good I am glad that you like the idea. So then shall we?" As they grey troll asked this, Branch and Creek turned to face each other, the grey troll held out his right hand towards Creek and he placed his right hand into Branch's. They brought their foreheads together and the two trolls closed their eyes. The purple troll concentrated his spiritual energy towards Branch and the grey troll responded by bringing his magic forward towards Creek. After a few moments of letting the energy swirling around them the grey troll spoke to the purple troll. "Creek, from this day forth you are my brother. We may share no blood but we are brothers in soul and this is what you are to me now, my soul brother. These words bind us together as brothers."

Creek smiled widely at the grey troll and then spoke the same words back to his friend. "Branch from this day forth you are my brother. We may share no blood but we are brothers in soul and this is what you are to me now, my soul brother. These words bind us together as brothers."

Both trolls glowed briefly for a few moments, they felt their energies accept each other and it felt good to both of them to have adopted each other in this way. Slowly they moved their foreheads apart, they let go of each other's hands, the purple troll smiled at his new soul brother and said to him. "I'm glad we did this."

"So am I. We now have each other…It feels strange to me to have family again even if it is in a rather unusual way." The grey troll admitted with a second small half smile which Creek had come to know was all he could manage due to his curse. Creek had to admit he looked forward to seeing that half smile when it appeared because it did so rarely.

The purple troll shrugged to his new soul brother and said. "Yes, well unusual suits us."

"That's true it does." Branch agreed. "There is something I have been wanting to show you for a while, but you've had a lot going on and I wanted to make sure you were alright before I let you see the latest development in my powers. I'll admit I also needed to make sure I chose a time to show you when Poppy wouldn't be around. I know that the princess hasn't been following us when we come out here anymore because she knows that this is where we go to de-stress and Poppy has come to respect the fact that occasionally we both need some time to ourselves."

Quickly Creek turned his full attention onto Branch and asked him perceptively. "Is this about what you really are?"

The grey troll gave him a nod, he stood up and Creek did the same thing. Branch took a deep breath, he let it out, then the grey troll started to glow with the blue light that the purple troll knew was his magic. Branch started to shimmer all over, the circlet of the King appeared first circling his brow, his patched shorts became long dark blue well fitted trousers which fell to his ankles and leaf vest became a sky blue shirt, with balloon sleeves which were tied at his wrists, the neck was open in a v shape and had the same ties at the neck as were at the wrists. Around Branch's waist was a silver belt which was decorated with leaves to match the circlet and it had a scabbard hanging from it which contained the sword of the troll King. On his left shoulder was the black leather quiver and the bow that Creek had given him years earlier as his birthday gift.

"Wow…" Creek breathed, he walked the whole way around the grey troll taking him in looking like this and then said to him. "Is this what I think this is? Is this your King form?"

"King form, well that's one way to put it, but yes this is what I am supposed to look like." Branch admitted with a nod for his soul brother.

"I know I said this already but wow…You look like you just walked out of one of the old legends of the great troll Kings. Thank you for trusting me Branch."

"We are soul brothers and I do trust you, I have for years now."

Creek smiled at the other troll, he was glad to know that he had Branch's trust now and Creek returned that trust fully. The purple troll watched with disappointment as with another rush of blue magic Branch turned back to normal. "I am glad you trust me so much and I trust you too. I am happy we became friends."

"So am I. You should be heading back to the troll tree and I should be going home to my bunker it is getting late now."

"Yes agreed. I'll meet you here tomorrow at our normal time."

Branch gave him a nod, he watched as Creek started off on his journey back to the troll tree, once his new soul brother was out of sight the grey troll headed home to his bunker. When he got home Branch made himself something to eat and then after he had eaten the grey troll worked on brewing various medicines to put into storage in case they should be needed for any reason. As Branch worked on them he let his thoughts wander over all that had gone on that day, he felt that what he had shown Creek was right and Branch knew that because of the promise the other troll had made him when they were young Creek would never betray the trust they now shared. When Branch finished bottling the medicines, he went to bed, the grey troll lay in his bed rolled onto one side and looked at his grey hand. He hated being grey, he hated the fact there was nothing he could do about it, only when some troll truly loved him would he get his colours back and that Branch was sure would never happen. There were times when he had and still sometimes wanted to give in to the darkness that seemed to wish to swallow him, but Creek and Poppy both unknowingly kept him going and Branch was grateful to both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

(For those reading this story you have my apologies I've been having internet issues and I'm having to go into town and to the library to be able to put these chapters up here. Hence you get the third chapter as an apology I hope to have things returned to normal as soon as possible.)

Chapter three:

Poppy had to admit that she was intrigued by the grey troll, she had been for years, the princess considered him a friend, but there was something about him, something that bothered her and the pink troll could never quiet place what it was. It was almost as if Branch spent all of his time hiding something, but as far as the pink troll could see there was nothing important or special about him that might need hiding. Poppy often wondered what the grey troll might be like if he smiled, sung, danced and hugged like all the other trolls but she had come to accept that due to his grey nature Branch didn't do any of those things or if he did it was very rare. The princess had been sad when she had discovered that her friend was grey because of the loss of his grandmother at an early age, knowing this Poppy tried to be understanding towards the other troll and his odd little quirks.

The princess also knew that Branch and Creek were friends and had been for many years. The purple troll had laughingly told her once that it hadn't always been that way, that when they were very young Branch and himself hadn't gotten along at all, but as they had grown that had changed. Poppy had watched as the grey troll had been there an unwavering support from his friend through the loss of his mother. She had found Branch's dedication to the other troll very surprising, as to had the grey troll's kindness towards Creek at that difficult time. Poppy had found herself admiring Branch a great deal and to her this was a rather strange feeling to have for another troll. Hearing that the two male trolls had made each other soul brothers had not really surprised her, they had known each other for years and they had both experienced the same crippling pain of losing dear members of their families. Poppy was just glad that because Branch had been there for Creek which had meant that the purple troll had not turned grey as the other troll had.

Poppy had stopped following Creek and Branch out into the forest years ago, they never did much that was of any interest to her when they were there any way. This however was not the main reason she had stopped following them, after Creek's mother had died she had wanted to give her friend some space if he should need it and that space had become his time spent in the forest with Branch. Sometimes Poppy wondered what they talked about, she knew they meditated together and practiced yoga but their conversations were a mystery to her. It had surprised the princess to discover that Branch was the only other troll besides Creek to meditate and do yoga, when she had asked the purple troll about this he had smiled at her and explained that the other trolls just couldn't sit still long enough to learn either of them. Knowing the other trolls as she did Poppy could see that Creek's words had a point.

Now at the age of sixteen the pink troll was starting to notice the other male trolls of the tribe in a romantic light. She and the other girls of the snack pack would often get together for girl's nights and talk about the trolls they thought were cute or that they had a crush on and tonight was one of those nights. They all knew that Smidge had a thing for Fuzzbert, for the past few weeks they had all been trying to help the seventeen year old to get up enough confidence to ask the other troll out on a date. Smidge was beaming with joy tonight the other girls took one look at her face and Satin burst out with. "You asked him!"

Smidge gave them a nod, from where she was sitting in the main room of the royal pod and said. "I did ask and he said yes! We are going out tomorrow night."

"You go girl!" Chenille said excitedly.

Suki came into the main room of the royal pod at that point with a far away look in her eyes. The other girls looked at her, they all shared a look before teasingly Smidge said to the DJ. "Something on your mind Suki?"

The orange haired troll shook herself and then sheepishly smiled round at her friends. "Sorry girls I was miles away…"

"Oh some troll has a crush." The twins said together.

Suki blushed, the girls all squealed with excitement and Poppy bouncing in her chair said to her. "I can't believe it, miss I'm perfectly happy single has a crush! Who on? It better not be Creek."

The DJ grinned at the princess. "No I do not have a crush on Creek, I know you fancy him so he is off limits to me and before Smidge asks it's not Fuzzbert either."

"So who is it?!" The other girls all asked at once.

Suki blushed again and then said very softly. "Branch…"

"BRANCH!" They all yelled as one.

The orange haired troll gave them a nod and Satin asked. "When or how did that happen?"

The blush on the face of the DJ became even brighter. "Well I caught him working out topless a few days ago…He is so fit and when I asked him to fix my turn tables Branch was really actually nice about it…I know Branch isn't ever trolls idea of heaven but I think he is cute in his own way." As she finished talking Suki let out a dreamy sigh.

The twins looked at each other and said as one. "She's got it bad."

Poppy wasn't sure what it was she was feeling in that moment but it was hot and painful. For some reason that the pink troll couldn't fathom she didn't like the idea of the seventeen year old Suki and Branch getting together and for the life of her Poppy couldn't work out why. "So are you going to ask him out?" Smidge asked totally unaware of the inner turmoil of the princess.

"Not yet, I thought I would at least try to get to know Branch better. I thought I might invite him to my birthday party."

"Do you think he will come?" Poppy found herself asking.

Suki smiled at her. "Well I'm hoping if I promise to throw a few slow songs into the mix for the night then Branch might say yes."

After this night it seems to Poppy that when ever she noticed Branch Suki was with him, at the moment they seemed to just be walking and talking together but the princess knew that the DJ was hoping for more. Every time that the pink troll noticed that they were together Poppy had to bite down an urge to run over and push the two trolls apart, to say the princess was confused as to why she should feel this way about Branch and Suki getting close was an understatement, she was in fact completely mystified by her own feelings. Poppy tried to shake off this feeling and instead focus her attentions onto Creek, he was the one she had a crush on after all not his soul brother.

When Suki's birthday party came round all the gang was there, Poppy noticed that as the DJ had hoped even Branch was in attendance. His gift had been beautiful, a pair of silver metal hair sticks, the ends of which were decorated with pink flowers and hanging chains with pink beads at the end of them. When the grey troll had admitted, he had made them all of the snack pack accept Creek had been surprised, as the purple troll was more than a little familiar with Branch's ability to invent and create. As Suki slid the hair sticks carefully into her hair Poppy had to admit they looked absolutely beautiful and she was more than just a little envious of the birthday gift the other troll had received from Branch.

The grey troll looked at his hair sticks in the orange hair of the younger troll, he gave a nod and then spoke to her. "They look suite you…I had hoped they would."

Suki blushed slightly and then smiled up at Branch. "Thank you, their beautiful. I'm glad you decided to come."

The grey troll shrugged slightly. "Yes, well you did say there would be some slower music and you asked me in such a nice way that I didn't really want to say no."

As the party wound on Poppy caught glimpses of Branch, sometimes he was with Creek and other times with Suki. During one of the slow numbers that night Poppy was contentedly dancing in the arms of Creek when Suki came past her in the arms of Branch. The princess found herself staring at them, not only did they look great together they danced together like they had been doing so all their lives. As she watched Suki and Branch dancing together she felt that hot and painful stab inside her again and just as Poppy had been before the Pink troll was totally mystified as to what it meant. Another one of those stabs followed the first one as the DJ put her head to one side against Branch's chest and let him guide her through the steps of the dance. As the dance came to an end, the grey troll acted the gentleman, he put Suki's arm through his and led her off the floor. When they came to the edge of the floor, Branch took one hand he raised it to his lips and placed a kiss to the back of the DJ's hand causing her to blush and Poppy to feel like she wanted to go over there and pull them apart.

It was unsurprising to any of the trolls who had seen them together during that night, that after the party Branch and Suki started to date. Everyone thought they made a very cute couple, well almost everyone, Poppy was finding seeing the two of them together very hard to cope with and she just couldn't understand why. Listening to Suki talk about how romantic and caring Branch was constantly made the princess want to throw something at her old friend. For Poppy the next two years were like torture for her, though she flirted with Creek for some reason she could never go any further than that. Sometimes when they were together the purple troll would shoot her an amused smile almost as though he knew something she did not.

When two years later Suki told them all she had ended things with Branch Poppy had felt a surge of happiness and worry go through her at the same time, the pink troll was surprised to realise that it was not Suki who she was worried about but Branch instead. A couple of days after this break up Poppy went out into the forest to look for him wanting to make sure he was alright. The princess soon found herself completely lost as one clearing out here looked much like another. Then a rustling noise came from behind her, quickly Poppy turned around to see a black cat come stalking out from the undergrowth. The pink troll let out a loud scream, even as she looked for somewhere to hide, realising that there was no were Poppy closed her eyes and waited for her end to come.

Suddenly the cat let out a screech of pain, the princess opened her eyes to find Branch and Creek in the clearing with her. The grey troll was aiming something she had never seen before at the cat, while Creek ran towards her, this brought back memories of her youth when Branch and Creek had saved her before. The purple troll made it to her side, he looked down at her panting and then addressed Poppy. "We heard you scream, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Good come on." Creek took her hand, pulled her up onto her feet and then he ran with her out of the clearing.

"But what about Branch?" Poppy asked him worried for the grey troll.

"Trust me when I say Branch can handle himself and would only worry more if you staid were you might get hurt." When they came to the bottom of the troll tree Creek left her there, before turning back around and racing back into the forest.

Poppy stood at the bottom of the tree, when her friends and father came down to see what was wrong she told them what had happened and despite their best attempts the pink troll refused to move. The princess was determined to stay here and wait for Creek to come back, she just had to know if Branch was alright. It was an hour later when the purple troll walked back out of the forest and in his arms was a pale and limp Branch. Letting out a noise of distress Poppy flew to the side of the purple troll and looked down at his soul brother before asking the spiritual troll. "Creek what happened to Branch?"

"He needs a healer, the night cat has wounded him badly." He told Poppy in clipped tones, as Creek went passed King Peppy he shot the older troll a glare daring him to try and stand in his way. The King wisely said nothing, he instead quickly moved out of the way of the clearly angry purple troll. After Creek had gone passed him, Peppy looked down at the grass under the tree and as he did so the King noticed a spot of crimson blood on the grass and gulped.

Creek carefully lay his soul brother into the bed in the healer's emergency room, he then stepped back from the bed to allow the healer to do her work. Leaf came straight over, she pulled the leaf vest off of Branch and threw it to one side. The green troll looked at the long deep gash in his side for a few moments, then she quickly gathered up a bowl and filled it with a solution to clean the wound. Carefully leaf cleaned the injury, once the healer was happy that the wound was as clean as she could make it she gave Branch something to help with the pain. Then Leaf brought out a sterilized needle and turned to Poppy and Creek. "I'm going to have to stitch this closed the two of you may want to leave."

Creek shook his head. "I won't leave my brother, I know that if it were me Branch would stay." The purple troll moved back to the side of the bed and took the hand on the grey trolls uninjured side in his.

Poppy who until now had been stood in the doorway also crossed the room and stood beside Creek. "I'm not leaving either, Branch is my friend and he is hurt because of me."

Leaf gave them a nod, then set to work stitching his wound closed, when she finished the healer placed on to it an ointment to help it heal and to stop infections, Leafe then covered the injury up to make sure nothing was going to get in to it. "There, Branch was lucky it didn't catch any important organs but the wound is deep and it will take time for him to heal."

"He isn't going to like that." Creek said with a shake of the head.

"I know but you need to make sure Branch gets his rests and doesn't over do things it will only make him worse in the long run if he doesn't."

The purple troll let out a deep sigh. "I'll do my best." Creek looked down at the grey troll laying in the bed and stroked a hand over his forehead in an affectionate gesture.

It was three days later when Branch finally opened his eyes, he found Creek sitting by his bedside and he gave his soul bother a small half smile. The purple troll smiled back with relief clear in his eyes. "Try not to move around too much, you've got a nasty gash in your side. It's healing well though."

"Poppy?" Branch asked.

Creek had been expecting him to ask, so he was unsurprised when Branch did so. "She is fine…Worried about you because you were hurt protecting her but other than that fine."

"Did anyone see my mark?" This question was asked very softly.

Creek shook his head. "No, the concealing magic you have on it kept the mark hidden. You've done a very good job on that spell."

"I'm glad it worked the way I was hoping it would."

"I should warn you Poppy will be here soon, she comes to see you every day at the same time."

The grey troll gave him a nod. "I understand."

Sure enough a short time later the door to his room opened, Poppy went to say something to Creek before she noticed that Branch was sitting up slightly in bed watching her. The princess let out a noise of delight, she rushed to the side of the bed and smiled widely at the now awake Branch. "It's good to see you awake. I'm so sorry you were hurt because of me."

"Poppy it's alright, I'm going to be fine. I'm just glad you are safe." The grey troll told her with sincerity.

"Thank you for protecting me. I feel so stupid for not being able to protect myself I just froze when the night cat came after me."

"It's alright it could happen to anyone." Branch said laying a comforting hand onto her arm.

Poppy placed her hand over his and smiled down at the weak grey troll. "Thank you."

With a slight nod of his head Branch closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. It was many days until the grey troll was strong enough to leave the healers pod and Leaf had told him he could not go back to his bunker until he had fully recovered which meant that he would need another troll to take care of him. It was at this point that the purple troll had stepped in and told his soul brother that he would be looking after him. Branch had found impossible to protest against what he was being told, he knew he needed to heal so instead of arguing with them he had let Creek carry him to his pod on the troll tree and put him into the bed in his guest room.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four:

It took Branch many days to get use to the strange sensation of sleeping in a pod again, as well as to all the noise of the troll tree. There were times when he was sure all the singing was going to make him go crazy, but eventually the grey troll managed to start to tune it out. Poppy was a constant visitor, coming to see him every day in the afternoon and Branch had to admit he actually looked forward to her daily visits. Creek and he had grown even closer, they would spend the day talking, even play the occasional game, most of which consisted of card games, drafts and chess. The purple troll had quickly discovered that Branch was actually very good at chess, it was a discovery which did not surprise him all that much, after all his soul brother was a troll who always planned ahead.

The more time that Branch spent around Poppy the more he became aware that something inside him was changing and growing stronger at first the grey troll wasn't sure what this was at all. Eventually though Branch realised that he was falling in love with the princess and when he realised this the grey troll wanted to hit his head against something hard. As far as Branch was concerned falling in love with Poppy was probably the worst thing he could do, she was in love with his soul brother after all and he was the least likely troll to ever be thought of by her in a romantic light. It seemed though that no matter how hard he tried to deny what he felt it would not be denied, in fact it seemed to grow stronger instead.

It wasn't until Branch tried using his magic when he was alone while he thought of Poppy that the grey troll realised that the love he felt for the pink troll was not something simple, or something which with time would go away. His magic was so much stronger when he thought of her that Branch couldn't deny what he was feeling for the princess was true love. The grey troll let out a deep sigh, he looked down at his hand, then touched it to his chest over his heart, Branch could feel it so clearly now, the power and the warmth that marked out the fact he was holding true love in his heart for Poppy. Branch groaned this was a good thing in one sense because it meant his magic was now stronger than before but a bad thing in another because if he used his one sided true love for Poppy to help him defeat the enchantress when she came back for the princess then…Branch didn't even want to think about what would happen if he did that.

The grey troll considered telling Creek about his feelings for Poppy but decided not to, he was fairly sure that his soul brother had feelings of his own for the pink troll and he was not about to come between them. Branch knew that Poppy loved Creek, he had long ago adjusted to the idea that at some point the purple troll would take the place which should have been his as King of the trolls. The grey troll was more than happy to let the soul brother he trusted take his place, because Branch knew that Creek would take care of Poppy and the troll tree, all while keeping what he actually was a secret from the other trolls for the rest of their lives. Still Branch couldn't stop his heart from filling with joy when Poppy came to see him or douse the flames of hope that burnt in his heart that one day she might return his feelings for her.

Since he couldn't do much at first Branch spent a lot of time reading when he didn't have visitors or if Creek was out of the pod. The purple troll had been kind enough to go to Branch's bunker in order to get any of the books that he told Creek he had wanted. The grey troll had gone back over all the magical texts of his family to find out how his newly discovered true love for the princess might affect him especially if he was forced to use it when she did not return his feelings. By the time Branch had finished reading the books he knew the answers to all of his questions, in all honesty he had known them already but he had wanted to make sure…And now Branch knew for sure that he had been right using his one sided true love to defeat the enchantress when she returned to the troll tree would end with some unpleasant results for him. The grey troll didn't want to tell anyone what he had discovered, at least not until he'd had some time to adjust to this new information.

Creek could tell something was bothering Branch, he didn't know what it was but the purple troll was fairly sure that it had to be something important, but when Creek had tried to ask him about it but his soul brother wouldn't talk about what was wrong and in the end the spiritual troll decided that it was best to leave the subject alone. Creek was sure that when Branch was ready he would talk to him about what had happened then he would, until then all he could do was wait. Despite his resolution to wait and see what was wrong with Branch it didn't stop the purple troll from worrying about his soul brother. Little did Creek know that it would be years until Branch would finally tell him what had come to trouble him.

As time passes, Creek and Poppy watched with relief as Branch recovered, he healed slowly but surely and with each day that passed Branch become more like his old self. The princess had to admit the first time she caught the grey troll working out in Creek's pod she couldn't help but stair at him. Branch was completely unaware of her as he carefully exercised both his body and hair, showing off how strong he was to her for the first time. Poppy had to admit that Branch probably had hair as strong as Smidge which was saying something and she had never seen another troll with a body which was as well toned as his before. When the grey troll noticed her in the doorway he stopped what he was doing, they stood their staring at each other neither one was quite sure what to say to the other. The two trolls were saved from further embarrassment by Creek entering the pod, he looked from Branch to Poppy and then back again before saying. "Is everything alright?"

Poppy jumped and said quickly. "Fine…Everything is fine…"

"Yes fine." Branch assured his soul brother before pulling on his vest and settling down in a chair.

Creek frowned at them both but wisely decided to say nothing, instead he went to the kitchen to start on dinner and left Poppy and Branch alone once more. The two trolls locked gazes again, the princess sat on another chair in the main room and then spoke to Branch. "I didn't know that you were that strong."

"Well I've spent years taking care of myself and going out into the forest. I realized early on that going out into the forest and not being strong wasn't a good thing, so I decided to make sure that I was strong enough to deal with anything that I came across."

"Yeah…It's a good thing you did, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't…Twice you've saved my life and then there are all of the other times you have come to my rescue I've lost count of those. I'd never seen someone fight the way you do, and when I sore you fight I couldn't help but think that you were like a warrior from one of the old legends…"

Branch shrugged slightly. "Yes well, trolls haven't needed warriors for a long time…I'm pretty sure I am the only troll in the whole troll tree with the skills I have."

Poppy looked at him for a few moments before saying softly. "Yeah you probably are. It's a shame there aren't more trolls like you, I think we could do with a few more warriors around here."

"Maybe one day when you are Queen you can do something about that."

"Only if you will promise to train them." Poppy said to him with a smile.

Branch gave the pink troll a surprised look. "Me?"

"You're the only warrior troll we have as far as I am aware, who else would teach the other trolls how to be a good warrior but you?"

"You make a good point." The grey troll conceded.

"So, would you train the future warriors?" The grey troll gave her a nod and Poppy gave him a huge smile. "Thank you."

Branch was quite relived and sad in a way when Leaf told him he was well enough to go home at last. The grey troll was looking forward to being in his own home and in his own bed, but he would miss seeing so much of both Poppy and Creek. He need not have worried however as both Creek and Poppy promised to come and visit him in his bunker as often as they could. So, it was that Branch went back to his old life, with a new love in his heart but a determination not to stand in the way of Creek and Poppy being together. The purple troll had to admit that when Branch was gone Creek missed his company and he looked forward to meeting with the other troll even more than he had before.

Once the pink troll was satisfied that the grey troll was well and truly healed, Poppy had constantly bugged both Creek and Branch to teach her how to defend herself. Eventually the two male trolls had given into the princess's constant pestering and consented to teach the pink troll how to defend herself. Creek had started out by showing her how to do some simple short meditation, as well as breathing exercises and then eventually when he felt she was ready the purple troll showed her yoga. Branch on the other hand was the one to show the princess how to use her hair to defend herself, he also taught Poppy how to fight hand to hand and how to move quickly and more flexibly than before. The pink troll picked up what the soul brothers taught her at a rapid pace and with ease, Creek and Branch had to admit that they were both pleased with how well Poppy was picking up their lessons.

The purple troll had noticed that these lessons had brought Branch and Poppy a lot closer than they had been before. After noticing this fact Creek kept a close eye on the grey troll and he began to realise that Branch had at some point fallen in love with Poppy. This new knowledge pleased Creek, he had always hoped that once the two trolls spent some time together that they might develop romantic feelings for each other. Up until now all Branch had felt was a protectiveness for Poppy, but as Creek thought back to the mark on his soul brother's back, the poppy in the heart jumped into in the front of his mind. The eyes of the purple troll went wide, he wanted to slam his head against something, Creek could hardly believe that he had missed the fact that Branch had been in love with the princess more than likely for years, maybe even since their childhood and was now only starting to show that love more openly. The spiritual troll thought back to when his soul brother had been living with him and he couldn't help but wonder if this had been what had been bothering Branch at that time.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five:

Creek said nothing about his suspicions about Branch's love for Poppy until they were twenty one, he would never know what finally prompted him to say something about his suspicions to the grey troll that evening all those years later as they sat side by side on the grass of their clearing. "So how long have you been in love with Poppy?"

Startled Branch turned to stare at the other troll. "How did you even know that?"

"You're my soul brother I know you. So how long?"

"Here I was thinking that I'd done such a good job of hiding it." The grey troll said with a deep sigh.

Creek couldn't help but smile widely at Branch. "Oh, I'm sure that I'm the only troll to have noticed that you are in love with her. Are you ever going to answer my question?"

The grey troll sat quietly on the grass beside the other for a few moments and then answered the question. "Years now, I didn't know what the feeling was at first…Poppy wormed her way into my heart and I didn't realise it. Creek I think…I think…" Branch's sentence petered off into silence.

Creek gave the other troll a concerned look. "You think what?"

Branch took a deep breath, he let it out and then slowly answered the question. "I think it might be true love."

"WHAT?!" Creek yelled with disbelief, the grey troll blinked surprised by the reaction of the other troll. Quickly the purple troll pulled himself together and then spoke to Branch again. "Are you sure? How do you know?"

"I'm as sure as I can be…As for how I know when I think about Poppy and use my magic it's a lot stronger than normal. My studies told me that if that should happen then it was true love as it makes all enchanters magic stronger than normal."

Creek stared at Branch, silence fell between the two trolls for a long while and then eventually the purple troll said. "Oh hairballs Branch! You have to tell Poppy."

"I can't she is in love with you…And before you ask, yes I know that for sure because the only troll Poppy ever goes on about in a romantic way is you. My true love for the princess is completely one sided trust me." As he spoke the grey troll slumped forward slightly as he spoke.

The purple troll looked at his brother with compassion. "Branch it's only a crush trust me."

"Yes, one she has had since she was sixteen, I doubt that Poppy's heart is likely to change direction any time soon and even if it did I am fairly sure that I am at the bottom of the list of potential romantic partners as far as Poppy is concerned. I can't say I blame her for feeling that way about me either."

Creek would swear that as Branch spoke he became even greyer, quickly the purple troll grabbed his brother's hands. "Branch! Branch! Don't…Don't think like that."

The grey troll met the concerned gaze of the other troll and squeezed his hands. "Sorry…Being grey makes me more susceptible to negativities as you know. I'll be alight Creek…I've been trying my best to adjust to holding one side true love inside my heart…It's not easy but I'm getting there. It may actually come in useful when the enchantress comes back to try once more to force Poppy to marry her son."

"You've always been so sure that she will come back for Poppy. It's been years now…Why would she try again now?" Creek asked him curiously.

"Because Poppy will be twenty in two years time, which means by troll law our princess will be of age, so she will be able to marry the enchantresses son without needing her father's permission. It will be a perfect time for her to make her reappearance, she can threaten the King or Poppy herself with another curse unless the princess agrees to marry her son."

Creek took a deep breath, he knew that Branch was right it was the perfect opportunity for the enchantress to come back and try to force Poppy to marry her son. "Do you think that you'll be able to stop her a second time."

"Yes…I think so…But I am sure that whatever magic she will use this time will be stronger than before…It's probably going to cost me a lot to undo it." Branch told his brother honesty.

"Cost you a lot…Branch what do you mean?" Creek asked with worry in his voice as he gripped the other trolls hands harder in his own. The grey troll looked away from the other troll and as soon as Creek noticed this his concern grew. "Branch…Oh no please…Please tell me that you're not going to have to give up your life."

Branch shook his head, Creek let out a relived breath and slowly the grey troll spoke to him again. "But if I end up having to use my true love for Poppy in order to undo what has been done then since it is not returned by her there will be consequences."

"Branch please just tell me what could happen." Creek begged just wanting to know what the worst case might be for his brother.

"It's hard to explain, but I will do my best. True love is one of the strongest powers there is, true love can work miracles but if I give that away and do not receive any in return I will be…I guess the best word would be empty. As I am enchanter it will not kill me as it might others but I will be forced into an enchanted sleep, one I will not be able to wake up from except if my true love is returned to me, if the tree needs me or if Poppy needs me as the protector. I won't age…I won't die…I'll just sleep…There is something which will need to happen to me if I do enter into the sleep, something I will need you to do for me."

"I get a funny feeling that I am not going to like this but what?" Creek asked reluctantly.

"If the sleep comes, take me to the trunk of the troll tree onto one of the branches, I don't need you to go too far up just to the trunk. The tree will claim me and it will show me to all those there as what I really am the great troll King, by then I think it will be time they all knew the truth about me any way." Branch explained to the other troll.

The purple troll felt very uneasy with all of this and found himself asking. "What do you mean the tree will claim you?"

Branch gulped and then answered the question. "The troll tree will put me to rest on a branch and it will shoot tendrils out to bind me, it's not pretty but it is necessary…The tree will bind my wrists, my ankles, my waist and my neck."

Creek winced it sounded terrible, he could hardly believe how resigned to the fact that this might happen to him Branch sounded. "Split ends! Branch we can't let that happen to you…I don't want that to happen to you."

"Creek we may have no choice…Trust me I don't want it to happen either…It's my true love and if Poppy needs it to save her then I will give it." As Branch spoke he took one of his hands from Creeks and then placed that hand onto the arm of the other troll and then spoke to his soul brother again. "The tendrils of the tree will bind me yes, but they will also keep me alive and protect me from any harm while I sleep so it is necessary. You must make sure that the others know not to touch the tendrils I don't want any troll being hurt by them unnecessarily. At least there will be hope for me, after all if true love is given to me in return for my own then I will wake up again."

"But that could take years to happen…Or never happen." Creek said very sadly.

"Hey, don't talk like that. Never say never…I will be alright. Let's face it I could be wrong and this may never happen."

Creek let out a deep sigh, he took his other hand out of Branch's and then addressed the other troll. "Branch I doubt that you would even mention this to me unless you thought there was a high possibility that it will happen. Poppy is going to be in for quite a lot of shocks if it does all happen."

It was Branch's turn to sigh as he moved his hand off of Creek's arm. "Yeah I know. Hopefully I will be wrong, nothing will happen Poppy will come of age and she will choose you to be her King. Then I can find a troll lady of my own, settle down have a family, hopefully I will then be able to pass my magic and responsibilities as protect or the tree and the royal family to one of my children when the time comes."

"And no one will ever have to know you should have been the great troll King."

The grey troll shrugged at his soul brother when he said this to him. "As long as Poppy is happy then I will be too."

"I have to admit that I am glad that I am not you right now." Creek said with a shake of his head.

"I can't believe that I managed to fall truly in love with Poppy and all it would take would be for her to truly love me back, then I would be free of my curse and I wouldn't have to sleep. Oh well it's no use wishing for the moon as my grandmother use to say. There is one…Well I hate to call it a good thing but it's as close as I can come to a good thing in all this, which is if I fall asleep…"

Creek interrupted him by saying strongly. "You mean when you fall asleep."

"Fine when I fall asleep, if you meditate next to where I am sleeping you and I will be able to talk." As he said this Branch tapped his head. "In here."

The spiritual troll let out a sigh. "Well that's something I suppose. Will I be able to teach any other troll to do that or is it just me?"

"You might be able to teach another troll but I don't know if it would work. I only know it will work for us because we are soul brothers."

"I'm assuming I can't tell Poppy about this either…" Branch shook his head at Creek, who sighed deeply and said. "I thought not. Can't you at least allow me to hint at how to save you…Other wise you're going to be stuck like that probably forever."

The grey troll thought about this request from Creek for some time before he said. "If Poppy can't work it out for herself or you think someone might hold true love for me then yes you can give them hints."

"Thank you." Creek said with clear relief.

"So, you say Poppy only has a crush on you but how do you feel about her?" Branch asked clearly curious and also wanting to change the subject.

The purple troll blushed slightly but answered the question. "I like Poppy…But I have feelings for another troll."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think Suki is beautiful." As Creek admitted this he smiled widely at the other troll.

"Well that I didn't see coming, but then I wouldn't as I spend so little time in the troll tree. Are you going to ask her out?"

"You know I think I might." As the purple troll said this he began to hope that if he dated Suki the troll he loved as he had been wanting to for some time now, then maybe Poppy would start to look around her for a new troll to love and that he gaze might just fall onto Branch. Creek was fairly sure that the princess had feelings for the grey troll and that because they were so different from the feelings she had for him Poppy couldn't understand what it was she felt for Branch.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six:

Poppy was so excited today was her twentieth birthday, today she was finally considered an adult by troll law, the princess would be able to move out of the royal pod into one of her own and she would be able to choose her own husband. Poppy let out a sigh, if you had asked her when she had been eighteen who it was she would marry the princess would have told you without the slightest hesitation Creek but now Poppy wasn't so sure that she wanted to marry Creek. She knew that this change of heart had occurred when Branch had been hurt saving her, Poppy had come to see the grey troll in a completely new light and it had made her think about him a lot more than she ever had before.

The princess really hoped that Branch would come to her birthday party tonight, she knew he wasn't usually one for such events but she hoped the grey troll would make an exception to the rule for her just as he had once done for Suki. Poppy had made him his own invitation and hand delivered it, she had even managed to remember from all those years ago to assure Branch that there would be some slow songs being played at the party. The grey troll had seemed surprised that she would want him to come to her party but had accepted her invitation and told her he would consider coming. With Branch Poppy knew that this was as close as she was likely to get to him saying that he would certainly come to her party.

Poppy left her room, she made her way down to the main room of the royal pod, she quickly made herself some breakfast and then settled at the table to eat it. Not long after this, King Peppy joined his daughter, the old troll smiled at his daughter, it was hard for him to believe that she was now an adult troll in the eyes of the law. He knew Poppy had a full day planned out for herself, so the King made full use of this time with his daughter by sliding his birthday gift to her across the table to her. "Happy birthday daughter."

"Thanks dad." As she said this Poppy unwrapped her father's gift, inside the paper was a simple black jewellery box, the princess opened the box and gasped. Inside the box on a white silk cushion lay a rose quartz flower pendant hung on a delicate silver chain.

Peppy smiled at his daughter. "That necklace was your mothers…"

"Oh dad thank you." Poppy said with wide eyes, carefully she took the necklace out of the box and her father helped the princess to put it on. The pink troll looked down at the flower and then smiled softly to herself before saying to Peppy. "It's so beautiful."

The King smiled at his daughter. "Your mother would have loved to see you wearing it. Now I know you have a full day planned, so you had best be getting on."

Poppy jumped up, she beamed a wide smile at her father. "Yeah I do have a lot to do before the party tonight. I'll see you later dad!"

The pink troll quickly left the royal pod, she headed out into the troll tree, she already had her eye on a pod and Poppy wanted to make sure that it was still available. When she arrived at the pink pod it was still empty, quickly the princess made her way inside, the pod glowed in recognition of its new owner and as it did this Poppy felt a thrill run through her. Happy that she had claimed her new home the pink troll looked around the empty pod, she would need furniture but, she would at least have her bedroom furniture from her old room to start with so that was something. With her head full of plans for how she would decorate her new home the pink troll left the pod to go and meet with her friends. The princess found them waiting for her at the spot where they always met, as the snack pack noticed the birthday girl coming towards them the group opened up and Poppy almost came to a stand still as standing with all of her other friends was Branch. Quickly the princess pulled herself together before walking over to the snack pack and then smiling round at them all. They all greeted Poppy, before wishing the pink princess a happy birthday and admiring her gift from her father on her special day.

Then one by one the members of the snack pack presented Poppy with their birthday gifts, from Fuzzbert she received hair bands, some in her usual plain blue and others decorated with flowers and butterflies. DJ Suki's present was a mix off all of her favourite song and something she could put in her new pod to play them on. Satin and Chenille gifted the princess with a new rug and some curtains all of which would help Poppy to decorate her new home. Cooper's present were some bean bags, Poppy loved them on sight they were made of the most vibrant floral fabric that she had ever seen. Smidge gave her a new mirror, it had a pink wooden frame decorated with lovely bright multi coloured flowers, Poppy already knew the perfect spot in her new pod for this gift. Guy Diamond's present was a whole new lot of glitter makeup, Poppy was extremely glad of this gift, because of the parties they held she was forever running out of it. From Creek, the princess received a lovely warm pink blanket, she smiled at him very sure that when the winter came this would be a very useful gift. Biggies gift to the princess was a set of three graduated blue glass vases decorated with lovely floral motifs.

The last troll to give their gift was Branch, when Poppy opened the paper which was concealing her gift, her eyes and those of the other trolls around her went wide. Within the simple grey and silver stripped wrapping paper sat a large wooden box, the lid had been hand carved with a poppy flower and her name. The pink troll carefully turned the key in the lock on the front of the box and then opened up the lid, inside was perfectly made fitted wooden tray for jewellery. Poppy quickly realised that this tray was far too shallow to take up all the room in the box she took hold of the wider middle part of the box and pulled up. The tray slid out easily and underneath was another section, as Poppy noticed what lay in this section the eyes of the princess widened from a second time, she looked from the box to Branch and then back again. The other trolls unable to see what was in the box watched on with confusion, carefully Poppy handed the box to Suki, who held it in her arms with the lid facing her, the pink troll handed the top tray to Biggie and then the princess then reached into the box to retrieved what had been hidden in the lower part of the box. They all stared as Poppy lifted out two beautiful hair combs, they were in silver mettle, each one was decorated with a bejewelled Poppy with silver leaves coming from each side. "Wow…" Satin said softly as the light hit the two combs and they glittered with brilliant colour.

"Wow is right sister." Her twin agreed.

"Were did you ever get those from Branch?" Biggie asked the grey troll.

As the large troll asked him this question Branch looked a little uncomfortable before he said shyly. "I made them…"

"You made…Them." Poppy squeaked out, the grey troll gave her a nod and in response to this the princess couldn't stop herself from beaming a wide smile at him. "Their beautiful, I remember when you made Suki those hair sticks I was so envious of her, and now I have my own piece of your wonderful work. Thank you Branch."

"Your welcome Poppy, I'm glad that you like them so much."

The snack pack helped the princess take her gifts to her new home, then assisted their friend in making the move from the royal pod into her own, and when they had finished helping Poppy with her move, the princess had thanked them all. Biggie had brought out the birthday cake at that point, the princess had blown out her candles and made her birthday wish. The wish she made however was not for herself but for Branch, Poppy wished that he would find his colours again so that he could be happy and sing just like them. The cake had been sliced by Biggie, the friends had sat around in Poppy's new living room, talking, reminiscing and eating the cake. Branch looked to Creek and said. "Do you remember when the princess was eight and we found her…?"

Creek chuckled, the others turned and looked at them, before looking to the princess and noticing that Poppy had gone crimson they all smiled. "Oh, we have to hear this!" Smidge said bouncing with excitement.

The purple troll looked to the grey and made a carry on gesture and Branch obliged with a tiny half smile on his face. "Poppy had managed to get away from her father, we never did find out how. She was playing with the petals of a balloon flower when Creek and I came across her. The princess managed to grab one just as we found her and of cause it lifted her into the air, Poppy thought this was great fun but we were not so thrilled. Creek and I ended up having to chase after the princess for an hour before the petal finally hit something sharp enough to puncture it. Let me tell you Poppy was not so happy to find herself suddenly plummeting through the air."

"Fortunately Branch caught Poppy." Creek said with laughter in his voice.

Poppy huffed at that point, crossed her arms and said. "Yeah and then he gave me a lecture."

"What I was worried." Branch admitted with a shrug.

The rest of the snack pack laughed as the two trolls glared at each other for a few moments before Poppy also joined in with the laughter and Branch smiled another one of his small half smiles. When the laughter had died down, the princess looked at the grey troll and said to him. "So, are you going to come to my party tonight?"

As soon as the pink troll asked this question an instant silence fell over the rest of the trolls, slowly Branch's eyes met Poppy's and for the first time in her life the princess realised that his eyes were a wonderful shade of sky blue. "Yes, I'm going to be at the party."

Poppy let out a squeal of excitement, she crossed the room and hugged the grey troll tightly. Branch stood frozen in the hold of the princess for a few moments before he slowly returned the embrace. The pink troll had never been hugged by the other troll before and she found that being held by him felt really good to her. When Branch released the princess, Poppy found herself wishing that he hadn't stopped hugging her, as all the pink troll wanted right then was for him to be holding her again. Reluctantly the princess also let go of Branch, she looked up at him for a few moments and then moved away from him. Though this interaction had been noticed by the rest of the members of the snack pack they were wise enough to say nothing about it to either of the trolls involved.

As the evening set in the members of the snack pack left Poppy's new home one by one so that they could go to their own pods or in Branch's case bunker and get ready for the party later. Once all of her friends were gone the princess got ready for the party, she changed out of her normal blue dress and put on a new sapphire blue dress with two straps and a sky blue floral pattern round the edge of the hem. The princess took her hair down, she combed out her hair, then put her hair back up in its usual style but used one of Fuzzbert's flower hair band to secure her hair. Then carefully Poppy brought out the hair combs which she had received from Branch and then gently slipped them into her hair. As the princess looked at the combs in her hair, she had to admit they looked absolutely stunning and Poppy was looking forward to seeing Branch notice them in her hair at the party tonight.

When the music started to play Poppy excitedly made her way down to the clearing in front of the troll tree. Soon the princess was enjoying herself lost in the dancing, slowly her friends came to dance with her, then as the first slow song of the evening started to play Poppy found herself looking round not for Creek but for Branch. The pink troll eventually spotted him standing to one side of the dancefloor, his eyes met hers and she could swear that for a moment there was a hint of amusement in his gaze but it was gone quickly. Poppy made her way over to where he was standing, when she reached Branch the princess held a hand out to him, the grey troll looked from the hand to her and raised his eyebrows at her. "Will you dance with me?" Poppy asked him softly.

Branch gave the princess a respectful bow before he put his hand into hers and said. "I'd be honoured to dance with you princess."

The pink troll giggled a little at his formality, then led him out onto the floor, Branch took Poppy into his arms and began to guide her round the dancefloor in a smooth but simple waltz. The princess found herself relaxing in the arms of the other troll, she didn't know how it was possible but Branch clearly knew how to dance the waltz and very well too. As the slow music drew to an end, the two trolls reluctantly moved apart, gallantly the grey troll offered her an arm, Poppy smiled at him, she put her arm through his and let Branch take her to the edge of the dancefloor. When they reached the edge of the dancefloor the pink troll took her arm out of Branch's, the grey troll gave her another respectful bow before he moved away from her. Poppy found herself unable to stop watching Branch as he walked away, the princess found herself wanting to go after him and Poppy couldn't understand why she would want to do this. As the high energy party music returned and the rest of the snack pack one more pulled the princess out onto dancefloor, Poppy became lost in the music once more and forgot all about her earlier urge to go after the grey troll.

Branch with Creek by his side was watching Poppy as she danced, he was glad to see that the princess was clearly enjoying herself at her party. Then suddenly the grey troll felt a change in the air it was similar to the feeling of when a storm is going to break, he knew this feeling and it caused him to freeze for a moment. The spiritual troll instantly noticed that his brother had a distant but focused look in his eyes and Creek immediately knew something was happening. He leant into his brother and whispered softly. "The enchantress is here isn't she?"

"Yeah…"

"Is the enchantress aware of you?" Creek asked with concern.

The grey troll shook his head. "No, I'm not using my magic so she can't feel me yet." As he spoke a low black mist crept over the dancefloor, Branch grabbed Creeks arm and started pulling him backwards, the purple troll didn't resist him as he did this.

The two brothers concealed themselves in the shadows a short distance from the dancefloor, Creek had never seen such dark magic before, but being the spiritual being he was the negativity of it sent shivers up his spine. Then all at once Branch's hand was in his, fingers laced between his, for the first time Creek felt his soul brother's magic close to him and to him it felt like a gentle and warm spring breeze. The purple troll knew without any words being spoken between them that Branch was protecting them both from the dark magic of the enchantress. Creek had no time to ask the grey troll if by doing this the enchantress would sense him, as other trolls had started to notice the black mist. Screams of fear began to fill the air but as the trolls in the clearing which contained the party tried to flee this mist found they could not move at all.

The dark mist billowed upwards into a rotating cylinder, the cylinder then collapsed outwards to reveal the evil enchantress to the guests of the party. This troll's skin was a sickly green shade, her hair was the colour of mud, it had been jaggedly cut at the ends and her eyes were a cold pale green. She wore flowing black robes, covered in occult symbols and in the enchantress's hand was a long black staff topped with a round glowing orb which matched the colour of her hair and skin. The green troll made her way to were Poppy stood, she stopped a short distance from the princess before levelling the staff at her and addressing the pink troll. "Princess Poppy, today you come of age. You will marry my son or I will curse you and all your tribe!"

Before the princess could say a word to this demand, Peppy spoke from the edge of the dancefloor to the Enchantress his anger clear in his voice as he did so. "My daughter is not going to be black mailed into marrying your son!"

"Very well then I curse you princess Poppy and all your people. Grey all of you shall be, broken of heart, no song shall you be able to sing, no dance will be yours to perform and happiness you shall never feel! Only if you wed my son or find true love will this curse break." As she spoke the enchantress raised her staff upwards before slamming it down onto the floor. The black mist swallowed all the trolls for a few moments and when it cleared all of the trolls had been robbed of their colours painting them all muted shades of grey and black. Her dark magic also swept up the troll tree turning it from vibrant shades to pitch black, this even included the pods hanging on the tree.

The enchantress cackled with glee, Creek looked to Branch, the grey troll looked back at him, his blue eyes held a deep sadness in them and the instant the other troll noticed that sadness in his eyes he knew that Branch was going to have to give his true love to save Poppy and the other trolls. Creek gripped his soul brothers hand for a moment, Branch returned this gesture briefly, before slipping his hand out of the other trolls and stepping forward. As he walked the grey troll started to glow blue, the other trolls watched him walking past them with awe and disbelief clear on their faces. The enchantress had not noticed Branch yet, as all of her attention was instead focused on the now grey princess who had fallen to her knees in despair. "So, princess will you marry my son to save your people?"

Once more Poppy did not get to answer this question as the glowing Branch stepped between her and the enchantress. The eyes of the green troll went wide, despite the years which had passed she recognised this magic and the enchantress yelled with disbelief. "YOU AGAIN!"

Poppy's head had shot up to see who the green troll was talking to and her eyes went wide as the green troll screamed those words at a glowing Branch. "Me again." The grey troll confirmed in an even toned voice.

"You are too late this time, you cannot undo this! I have won!" The enchantress said to him gloatingly waving an arm round at all the cursed trolls.

Slowly the glowing grey troll gave her a small half smile. "I would not be so sure of that if I were you." Branch pointed a finger at her and then spoke to the enchantress again. "Last time I gave you mercy because I was too young to know what I was doing, but this time I will not grant you mercy. You have harmed the tree I protect and you have cursed the princess I protect, that was not a wise thing to do…Because it has made me angry. So now I curse you, until your son is happily wed to the true love of his heart, no magic shall you have and I banish you from this place, you shall never be able to return to this place or cause any of the trolls who call this tree home harm ever again!" All at once bright sky blue light washed out of Branch, it shot strait towards the enchantress, as it hit her the green troll howled in anger and tried to fight the power of the grey troll but it was useless his magic swept her up and threw the evil enchantress away from the troll tree as though she were nothing more than a rag doll.

Once the enchantress had been swept away by the grey troll's power, the other trolls found they could now move and as one they all turned to look at the now no longer glowing Branch their eyes were all wide but not a word was spoken by any of them. The grey troll turned towards Poppy, he held his hands out to her, the princess took his hands in hers and allowed Branch to help her to stand. As the princess looked up into his blue eyes there were a million questions running through her head and she wanted to ask them all at once but the only question that Poppy found she could ask Branch was. "Now what?"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven:

Slowly Branch released Poppy's hands, he stepped a few steps away from her, as the grey troll did this Creek made his way over to the two other trolls and stood beside his soul brother. Branch smiled one of his small half smiles at the grey troll and said softly to the princess. "Now I will use my magic to undo what she has done."

Creek and Poppy both watched with wide eyes as Branch floated up into the air, his eyes were now closed and his head was bowed forward. The completely black troll tree was behind him as a haunting silhouette in the rosy light of the dawn, slowly Branch's head came up, with his eyes still closed the grey troll opened his arms wide and sky blue light bloomed round his body but this time the light was much brighter than it had just moments before. Several trolls gasped as the blue light touched them and their colour began to slowly return, hearing this noise Poppy turned to look at them and her eyes widened with surprise. As she watched with her eyes still wide slowly more and more trolls started to regain their colour as the blue light touched them and then moved on. Poppy turned back to look at Branch, she watched as the magic of the grey troll raced up the troll tree, in response to this the troll tree started to glow and slowly the trunk and branches turned from black to brown, the leaves were green again and the pods in the tree filled with colour once more.

Gradually Branch's blue light returned to him from the tree, he then floated down, as the grey troll made contact with the grass under the tree, it turned from grey to green, a rainbow of small lights shot up out of the grass and started to float through the air round the trolls in the clearing. The grey troll's blue eyes opened, they focused on the still grey princess, his arms fell to his side for a few moments before Branch brought his left hand up and he laid it flat on his chest over his heart before drawing it away. In the palm of his hand sat a small glowing flame of blue light, the grey troll walked the few steps to Poppy, she watched his hand as it came towards her and Branch gently pressed the blue flame into her chest over her heart. As the curse of grey was removed from the princess by Branch Poppy turned pink once more and she was relived to feel warmth and happiness fill her once more. The princess was aware that at the same time as Branch was doing this to her that the rest of trolls round her finished turning back to their original colours. As her broken heart was healed by the true love her protector carried for her, the princess looked up at him and slowly the grey troll managed to give her a small half smile as he was still cursed grey. With all of this now done Branch suddenly wavered on his feet and his eyes slipped closed, Creek noticed this happening, he dashed the short distance towards the grey troll and as he collapsed downwards the purple troll caught him. Creek went down onto his knees cradling his soul brother close to him as he did so. "BRANCH!" The spiritual troll cried out calling desperately to him, his concern for the other troll so very clear in his voice as he did so.

Slowly Branch's eyes opened, he smiled up at Creek but despite this small smile there was deep sadness in his blue eyes. "Sh, it's alright Creek. I told you once before remember, true love can work miracles and it has. Mine is one sided though, I always knew that though didn't I?" As Poppy knelt alongside the two trolls Branch held a hand out to her, the pink troll carefully put her hand into his and he placed it onto Creeks shoulder. "Take good care of my soul brother princess Poppy, I'm sure the two of you will make a good King and Queen one day…Don't worry Creek…Don't look at me with those sad eyes Poppy, I always knew this would happen if I used the one sided true love I held for you…"

"What…What is happening to you Branch?" The pink troll asked him her voice wobbling as she did so.

"I'm just going to sleep…It will still allow me to protect the troll tree and you. Creek you know what to do once I'm asleep, promise me Creek…Promise me you'll do what I told you to with me and that you'll love and take care of princess Poppy."

Creek closed his eyes for a moment an expression of pure pain crossing his face before he opened his eyes and gave Branch a nod. "I promise Branch."

"Good…" The blue eyes of the grey troll finally closed and his breathing became even as he fell into a deep sleep. Creek held Branch close to him, Poppy felt his shoulder under her hand start to shake and she knew that the purple troll was crying for his friend and soul brother.

After a few moments Creek forcefully pulled himself together, he stood, Poppy let her hand drop from his shoulder as he did so and followed along behind the other troll as he carried Branch away from the clearing towards the troll tree. Poppy was not the only troll to be following the purple troll into the troll tree as all of the other trolls were also following him. The spiritual troll climbed up into the tree until he was a half way up the troll tree near to his own pod and then Creek walked along the branch there towards the trunk of the troll tree. As the purple troll got close to the trunk of the troll tree Branch started to glow with blue light once more, within the light his patched shorts became long dark blue well fitted trousers to his ankles and leaf vest became a sky blue shirt, with balloon sleeves which were tied at his wrists, the neck was open in a v shape and had the same ties at the neck as were at the wrists. Around Branch's waist was a silver belt which was decorated with silver leaves and on his left shoulder was the black leather quiver and the bow.

The purple troll was aware of Poppy standing at his side watching Branch's transformation into the great King, while the rest of the trolls stood further back from them watching them in respectful silence. Slowly Creek knelt down, he gently placed the grey troll down on the branch the spiritual troll carefully rested his brother's hands on his chest and then stepped back from Branch. As he walked backwards away from his soul brother Creek took the arm of the princess and drew Poppy away from the area around the grey troll with him. The troll tree started to glow again, the trolls all looked round them with awe, Creek unable to watch what he knew was going to happen next looked away.

Slowly the grey troll lifted slightly into the air, the branch of the troll tree moved upwards to support his body, quickly soft moss spread under Branch cushioning the area where he slept. Leafy tendrils sprouted forward from the trunk and branch of the troll tree, two from the branch wrapped round the grey troll's ankles, one from the trunk went around his waist, two more tendrils from the trunk wound around each of his wrists and then one last tendril from the branch curled its way round Branch's neck. Once this was done sky blue light shimmered above the chest of the sleeping troll for a few moments and then under his hands the sword of the great King appeared. "The sword of the great King…" One of the trolls gathered around the area said softly in awed tones, a few moments later the status of Branch as the great King was confirmed to all of the trolls when in another shimmer of blue light appeared the silver circlet of silver leaves circling the brow of the sleeping grey troll.

Once he was sure that everything was as it should be Creek stepped forward, he stood next to Branch looking down at him and gently placed a hand onto his two clasped ones being careful not to touch the tendrils round his wrists. "Dream well Branch…"

"Creek when will Branch wake up?" Poppy asked from behind him her voice shaking as she did so.

The purple troll turned back to her looking at the princess with sad eyes. "I don't know…"

"But you know something about this don't you?" The pink troll asked as gently as she could.

Creek shook his head at the other troll. "I'm sorry Poppy I promised him…I can't tell you anything about this…Branch didn't want me to tell you. All I can say is no one can touch the tendrils they will protect him and Branch didn't want any of the trolls to be harmed by them if they should touch one by accident." The purple troll said sadly to the other troll.

"I'll make sure that all the trolls know not to touch them then. Creek, what did that evil troll mean when she said Branch had done this before?"

The purple troll sighed, he was hoped that Branch would not begrudge him at least explaining what the enchantress had meant to Poppy. "Branch protected you from the first curse which that enchantress tried to place on you when you were only a baby. It was actually this curse which really turned him grey and not the loss of his grandmother as we were all told. It was his actions on that day which led to Branch being made the protector of you and the troll tree as well as the first chosen great King of the troll tree in centuries. Your father had all of this information hidden from all of us."

As he spoke to Poppy the area around Branch slowly cleared of trolls leaving Poppy, Creek and Peppy as the only ones left in the vicinity. The pink troll turned to look at her father an expression of both hurt and anger coming onto her face as she did so. "How long had you known the truth about Branch father?"

In the face of his daughters anger the old troll blanched. "The whole time…I wanted to protect you…I didn't want you to have to marry the son of the enchantress, who was a troll you couldn't possibly love and I also didn't want you to know what the enchantress had tried to do to you."

Creek turned and glared at the old troll furiously. "You wanted to keep your position to as troll King as well…You knew what Branch was! You knew he was the great King and you made him hide it from all of the other trolls."

"Branch is the great King, you sure?" Poppy asked the spiritual troll, Creek gave her a single nod and the princess spoke again her voice full of awe as she did. "But I thought they were just supposed to be legends."

Creek smiled sadly at the princess. "No, they were never just legends, they were trolls who really existed but over time they became legends…That's what my father always told me when I was a child…I never believed him until…Until I met Branch. There hasn't been a great King of the troll tree for a very long time…"

At that moment Peppy interrupted what the spiritual troll was saying by bursting out with. "But Branch is just a common troll! He is no great King!"

The purple troll turned to the older troll, he glared at him and took a menacing step towards Peppy. "If you call my King that again I will hurt you. He is my brother and my King, I took my oath to Branch as the great King and I will not let you insult him! You know well enough that for him to have even been chosen by the tree as the great King then there has to be royal blood somewhere in the past of King Branch's family!"

As Creek mentioned the oath the eyes of the old troll went wide and he said with disbelief. "You swore allegiance to him!"

"I did and I would do it again in a heart beat. I will protect King Branch right along with those tendrils and if I have to I will teach my children to do the same." Seeing that Creek was serious Peppy backed away from the clearly angry purple troll before turning and leaving quickly.

Poppy came to stand beside Creek, she looked up at him and asked. "If Branch is the great King then what does that mean for me? And is it possible that he will really sleep long enough for you to need to train another troll to protect him after you?"

"Well your father is no longer the King of the trolls as that is Branch's place, but because he acknowledged you as princess before he went to sleep you are still our princess…So it will be you and your descendants who will be the ones to rule us in his place until King Branch wakes. You are protected by the great King princess Poppy and that is not something any of the trolls will take lightly. To answer your second question yes it is possible that the great King could sleep that long."

The pink troll had never seen Creek act in such a formal way before now, but Poppy understood were this behaviour was coming from. She took both of his hands into her, looked up into his eyes and said softly. "Creek, Branch…I suppose I really should call him King Branch now…He told you to love and take care of me…But you don't love me do you?"

Creek shook his head at the princess and then addressed her. "No I don't love you, at least not as anything more than a sister. I'm in love with Suki…I have been for years…I guess because I never took Branch's advice about asking her out on a date that he thought for some reason that I had developed feelings for you. I will keep my promise to my King and care for you…But I can't love you I'm sorry Poppy."

To the surprise of the spiritual troll the pink troll let out a sigh of relief and said to him. "To be honest I am glad to hear you say that. I did have a crush on you when I was younger but over time I came to see you as more of a brother figure." The princess let go of the hands of the purple troll and turned her attention onto his sleeping soul brother. "I can't help but feel I shouldn't even be standing here in his presence…"

Creek placed a hand onto the shoulder of the pink troll and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Branch wouldn't want you to feel that way."

"I can't help it…After all this is all my fault…"

The purple troll smiled down at her. "Branch's state is not your fault, if anyone needs blaming for this situation it is your father."

"Will King Branch be alright?"

"Poppy you and I can call him Branch between us when we are alone…I am sure he would want it that way and to answer your question yes Branch will be alright eventually." Creek assured her as best as he could. The two trolls turned away from the sleeping Branch and they walked away into the tree side by side both of them with the great King on their minds but in very different ways.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight:

Time passed, days became weeks, weeks turned to months, eventually six months had passed by and over the six months which had elapsed since Branch had entered his enchanted sleep Creek had gotten into the habit of going to meditate and talk to his soul brother mind to mind everyday. The purple troll made sure to tell Branch all of the news from the troll tree, as well as keeping him up to date on how both himself and the princess were doing. Creek was well aware that Poppy would come to see Branch at the same time as he did, but the princess always stood towards the entrance of the area of the branch which contained the grey troll and despite his encouragement she wouldn't come any closer to the great King. Creek was sure that Poppy still felt very guilty for the state of the grey troll and that deep down the pink troll continued blamed herself for all that had happened to Branch.

As for King Peppy he had formally been stripped of his title of King by his own daughter in a formal ceremony which had taken place before the rest of the tribe. At the same time Poppy had proclaimed Branch the great troll King to all those present and this proclamation had been met with a celebration which only the trolls were capable of. Since that day very little had been seen of the former King, he seemed to prefer living for the most part in solitude from the other trolls in what had formally been known as the royal pod. The trolls now all referred to Poppy's pod as the royal pod instead of the one in which Peppy lived and just as Creek had told her they would the other trolls still called her princess and they looked to her to rule them in the place of Branch.

Poppy stood at the edge of the leaves which surrounded the area were Branch lay sleeping as she did every day and as always her eyes were glued to the grey troll. The princess wasn't sure why but watching his chest rise and fall rhythmically as the King slept for some reason comforted and soothed her in a way nothing else could. As always Creek sat before his brother meditating, the pink troll was well aware that despite his relaxed looking state that the purple troll was alert to everything around him and if need be Creek would be ready to protect his soul brother in an instant. Poppy ran her eyes over Branch again, they lingered on the tendrils binding him and she curled her hands into fists, the pink troll had to admit that she hated them. Despite the fact that Poppy had been told by Creek why they were there, she still loathed them and every time the princess's set eyes on the tendrils binding his body Poppy always filled with an irrational urge to tear them away from Branch. The pink troll wanted to go up to the King, she wanted to say so many things to him but every time she came to see him guilt always overwhelmed her and Poppy found her feet glued to the branch.

It was when the seventh month came since the King entered into the enchanted sleep that Branch woke for the first time from his sleep. Poppy had taken the younger trolls out into the forest near the troll tree to study the plants down by the rived bank. Two of the youths had grown bored with her lesson, they had begun to play a game of catch with a ball, as often happen with young ones things got a little out of control and as one of them dove to catch the ball they had smacked into the back of Poppy sending her falling head first into the river. All of the children all screamed with fear as the princess fell into the fast flowing water.

The pink troll fought her way to the surface of the water and drew in a short breath before the water washed over her pushing her back down under the surface. Poppy felt panic spike through her, then suddenly there were strong arms round her and she was being pulled up above the surface of the water. Whoever had hold of her quickly swam with the princess to the bank of the river, this troll stood up and carried Poppy out of the fast flowing water towards the bank of the river. The pink troll blinked up at her rescuer with surprise, because despite having been told he would protect her Poppy was still amazed to see that it was Branch who was carrying her. When he reached the bank the grey troll carefully lowered her down so that the pink troll was now sitting on the grass by the side of the river.

The princess shivered she felt cold after her dunking, then suddenly Creek was there wrapping her in a warm blanket, the pink troll didn't ask him how he got there or why he had the blanket, the pink troll had a funny feeling she didn't want to know the answers to either of those questions and instead Poppy smiled gratefully at him. The princess then turned her attention back to Branch, it was in that moment she realised he was shirtless, Poppy knew she was staring at him just as she had that day in Creek's pod, but just like before she couldn't seem to help herself. As the grey troll quickly turned around to grab his shirt from nearby Poppy gasped as she noticed there was a mark of some kind on his back, the princess knew that the other times she had seen Branch shirtless it had not been there and she suspected that the King had been forced by her father to hide it until now. Quickly the pink troll was on her feet, she covered the distance between herself and the King hastily and once she was standing behind him the princess placed her hand with her fingers spread wide onto his back. As soon as she did this the grey troll took a deep breath and froze with his arms just pushed into the sleeves of the blue shirt. "Branch this mark on your back…What…What does it mean?"

"It's the mark that I am the great King, and the protector of both you and the troll tree." He said softly before he stepped away from her hand and quickly drew his shirt on, tucked it back into his trousers and fixed his belt. Creek walked over to the King, he stood in front of his soul brother gave him a small smile and then silently placed the silver circlet back onto his head. Branch turned back around to face Poppy and spoke to her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am thanks to you." As soon as those words were out of her mouth Branch sagged sideways into the purple troll, who quickly placed a supporting arm round the other troll. Poppy let out a gasp of distress when this happened, but Creek did not look at all surprised by his reaction to her words. The princess and the spiritual troll could only watch as slowly the grey troll's eye lids closed before he vanished from sight.

The purple troll looked at Poppy and said to her. "Come on let's get you back to the youngsters you gave them quite a fright."

"Creek…The mark on Branch's back…"

The spiritual troll quickly interrupted what the princess was saying with words of his own. "You know I can't tell you anything…I'm sorry Poppy. I already got in enough trouble with Branch for the little I told you about what the enchantress's words meant." With this said Creek took her back to the bottom of the troll tree were the younger trolls were waiting for her. They all thronged round the princess wanting to make sure that Poppy was alright, the pink troll made sure to comfort them and tell them all that she wasn't hurt in any way.

That night Poppy lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, she couldn't sleep, the princess had tried everything that she could think of to help her get to sleep but nothing was working. There was just many thoughts running through her head, thoughts of Branch, of what he had done to save her and that mark on his back. Poppy threw back the sheets of her bed, she climbed out of bed, the pink troll pulled on her clothes and then left her pod.

Poppy walked through the tree, she made her way to were Branch lay sleeping, she pushed the leaves to one side to reveal this space and stood there looking at him. The light of the full moon was falling through the leaves of the troll tree casting a sliver glow over the sleeping King and Poppy found herself smiling at the sight of him sleeping in the moon light. As she looked at him it wasn't for the first time that the princess noticed that as Branch slept the worry lines on his face were smoothed out making him look so much younger and more handsome than before. Poppy let out a sigh, even though she was standing just beyond the leaves as she normally did for the first time the princess found herself feeling brave enough to talking to Branch. "I wish you'd let Creek help me to find a way to wake you up…You shouldn't be stuck like this, it isn't right. That mark on your back won't get out of my mind…I'm guessing the tree is for the troll tree, the crown well that's your royal rank, the poppy is clearly for me and the heart…Yes the heart…That confuses me…Love I'm guessing but for what or who? Branch, Creek doesn't love me…I'm sure he must have told you that by now…I don't love him either…Thank you for saving me earlier." Having gotten all of these thoughts out of her head Poppy felt a lot better, the pink troll turned, she left the place were Branch was, she returned to her pod, undressed and then climbed into bed. This time though because her mind felt more at peace than it had last time Poppy fell into a peaceful sleep.

The next day when the pink troll came to see Branch, she was surprised to see that Creek wasn't meditating yet, instead he standing next to the King and he had a hand on the two which were clasping the sword. "You gave me a fright yesterday…You should have warned me that the tendrils would suddenly release you like that and that you'd just sit strait up awake and ready to go save Poppy. At least I know what to expect for next time and I'm sure there will be one of those at some point in the future…Our princess does like to get into trouble after all." With these words said the purple troll took his hand from atop the sleeping trolls, he turned around to find Poppy standing there and gave her a welcoming smile. "Hello Poppy."

"Hello Creek…" The princess stood in her usual spot for a few moments before she walked slowly across the space to stand next to Creek at the side of Branch. "I've been meaning to ask for a while now, why do you come here to meditate?"

"Well part of the reason is to be close to my soul brother and the other part of the reason is because due to the fact that we are soul brother's Branch and I are able to talk to each other in our minds if I meditate here."

"Oh I see." The princess said softly to the other troll. As Poppy looked down at the sleeping King again, she slowly moved one of her hands forward, it hovered just above his hair for a few moments before the princess pulled it back. Poppy felt herself blushing, she knew that touching another troll's hair was something which was highly intimate between trolls and was usually only done between close family members or couples. The pink troll couldn't even begin to work out what had made her start to think about touching Branch's hair in the first place. Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted as Creek took hold of her hand and smiling at her softly, he gently but firmly placed it onto the black hair of the grey troll. Poppy let out a gasp of surprise, the hair of the King was silky soft, she had never felt hair so soft in her life before and liking the feeling of it under her fingers the princess flexed her fingers against his hair and spoke to the King soul brother. "Creek, why if Branch broke the curse on the rest of us is he still grey?"

After a few moments of silence the purple troll answered this softly asked question. "Branch is still grey because he cannot break his own curse and that is because it was cast on him before he could fully control his own magic."

"I see. I've often wondered what colours he was and what it would sound like if he ever sung." Poppy admitted her voice still soft.

Creek released her hand, he was pleased when the princess began to stroke her fingers through the dark locks of his soul brother. "Yes, I will admit I have often wondered about that too. My soul brother has blue eyes, so I have assumed over the years that one of his colours must be blue…But I might be wrong As for his voice…Well I don't know what it might sound like in song either, but hopefully someday we can both find out the answer to that question."

Poppy stood there next to the King her eyes lost in thought and her fingers absently combing through Branch's hair. Creek trusting that the princess would not harm the grey troll in any way settled down on the branch beside the King and began to meditate. _"Branch…?"_ The spiritual troll called out in his mind.

" _I am here Creek."_ Hid voice said in return. _"I can feel fingers in my hair."_

" _Poppy is stroking your hair."_ The spiritual troll told Branch.

" _Oh I see…Wait what?"_ The King asked Creek his metal voice full of astonishment.

Mentally Creek snickered at his soul brother's reaction to this news. _"I think she is starting to forgive herself for what's happened to you."_

Branch sighed. _"My being asleep is not her fault."_

" _I know, and trust me I've told Poppy that a plenty of times of times but she still feels guilty. I think some of that guilt comes from the fact that Peppy refuses to acknowledge what he forced you to do was wrong. Poppy worries about you…"_

" _That's Poppy for you, she worries about all of us even me."_

" _True our princess does care for every troll, but I'm starting to think she cares for you most of all."_

Another sigh came from the grey troll. _"I've told you before Poppy doesn't think of me in a romantic light."_

" _I think you might be wrong about that…I believe that Poppy's feelings for you are so different and so much deeper than the crush which she had on me that Poppy doesn't understand what they are."_

" _Your just seeing things Creek."_

" _No, I don't think I am."_

" _I'm sorry I frightened you yesterday…I didn't tell you I would wake up like that, because the texts I had read on this situation didn't say what the temporary waking's might be like just why they would happen to me."_

" _When you finally fully wake up, you'll have to make sure you add how the temporary waking during the enchanted sleep works to those texts then."_

" _Yes, I will…It feels nice to have Poppy stroking my hair…"_

Creek couldn't help the smile he knew was curving up his lips outside the meditation. _"I shall have to tell Poppy that."_ Branch groaned with embracement, the purple troll laughed mentally at him and said teasingly to his soul brother. _"What it's not like I'd be telling the princess how to cure you, just that you like it when she strokes your hair."_

" _If I were awake right now I'd throw something at you."_

" _I know."_ The spiritual troll assured his brother. _"I have to go now."_ Creek told Branch sadly.

" _Yes, you do. I'll talk to you again tomorrow."_

" _You will."_ The purple troll assured Branch before he came out of the meditation and opened his eyes.

Poppy was still standing by the King, her fingers stroking gently through his dark hair and her eyes lost in watching herself stroking Branch's hair. Slowly Creek stood, as he did so the princess noticed this instantly, she turned to look at the other troll but her fingers did not stop stroking Branch's hair. This fact made the spiritual troll smile softly at Poppy. "Branch likes feeling you stroking his hair."

The princess blinked at Creek with surprise and asked. "Branch is aware of being touched?"

"Oh yes, and Branch also hears us when we talk to him, he just can't answer us back."

"Creek I want him to wake up so badly." Poppy confessed her voice wobbling slightly as she did so.

"I know you do Poppy but I have a question for you, why do you want Branch to wake up so much?" Before the princess could answer this question from the other troll, Creek gently laid a finger to her lips and spoke to Poppy again. "I want you to really think about your answer to the question before you give it. You can take as long as you want you don't even have to answer me today."

The pink troll blinked at him with confusion for a few moments, before she gave the purple troll a nod and he removed the finger from her lips. Poppy took Creeks advice and didn't answer his question strait away instead the princess just let it turn over in her mind. Reluctantly the pink troll took her fingers out of the Kings hair, she smiled down at the sleeping Branch and said. "As much as I could stand here all day stroking his hair I have a Kingdom to run."

"Yes, you do and I also have things to do today." This said the two trolls left the area where Branch lay sleeping to go about their work for the day.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine:

Two months after this Poppy still hadn't answered Creeks question, this was because the answer to it eluded her. The princess had been convinced that the answer to this question should have been easy, the pink troll knew that she wanted the King to wake up so she could stop feeling so guilty about him being asleep in the first place, but Poppy had been surprised to discover that though this was part of the reason that she wanted Branch to wake up it was not the only reason. There was something else…A deeper reason behind her desire to see the grey troll awake once more and Poppy couldn't place her finger on what that reason was. There was one thing which the pink troll had figured out, this was that she didn't just want Branch to wake up, she wanted to see him free of his grey state and that both of these desires were bound together in that elusive reason.

It was also at this two month mark that Branch experienced his second temporary waking. This time however it was not Poppy who caused the King to wake from his enchanted sleep but the troll tree. As the other trolls noticed their King was awake and determinedly making his way up through the troll tree towards the top of the canopy one of the trolls dashed off to fetch Poppy as she was sure that the princess would want to know that their King was awake once more.

A short while later the yellow female troll came running up to the princess, she stopped before Poppy and said to her. "Princess Poppy, King Branch he is awake…"

As soon as the yellow troll said these words the pink troll quickly turned to her and said commandingly. "Show me where he is Buttercup."

The yellow troll gave the princess a nod and together the two trolls quickly made their way into the tree to where Buttercup had seen the King. Eventually they found Branch he was standing near the very top of the troll tree glowing with his blue magic and at his side was his soul brother. The King had his hands held out in front of him palms down flat towards the tree under him and the grey troll's eyes were closed. Poppy watched spell bound as their magical home grew with the help of the magic of King, thinner branches were becoming thicker and new growth sprouted forward heading up towards the sunlight. The princess looked at his work admiringly, all of this new growth would give the trolls plenty of room for new pods for a good few years to come which would save her having to worry about running out of room any time soon.

Slowly Branch stopped glowing, his eyes opened, they fell on Poppy for a moment, the King gave her an acknowledging bow of his head, which the princess returned with a deep curtsy. This caused Branch to raise one eye brow at her but he didn't say anything, instead the grey troll turned his attention to the work he had done on the troll tree inspecting it closely. When Branch had finished his inspection his eyes came to rest once more on Poppy, the princess could feel herself blushing as those blue eyes gazed at her and the pink troll found herself wondering what the King was thinking about as he looked at her. There was something there in his eyes, something that Poppy couldn't place a name to, but whatever it was it made her want to look into those blue eyes forever. A moment later the grey troll was leaning into Creek just as he had done when he had saved her from the river, having seen this happen once already the princess knew what was coming next and sure enough just a short while later the Kings eyes fluttered closed before he once more vanished from sight.

Together Poppy, Creek and Buttercup made their way down the troll tree and to the part of the tree were Branch slept. Sure enough when they moved the leaves concealing that space to one side, the King lay once more in the hold of the tendrils, sleeping as though he had never woken in the first place. It was the princess who stepped forward, she walked over to where Branch lay, being careful not to touch the tendrils at his wrists Poppy placed one of her hands on his two clasped ones. "Please…Please let Creek tell me how to wake you up…I can't stand seeing you like this…The idea that you could just keep on sleeping waiting for who knows what…Its cruel…To cruel…" Poppy moved her other hand and began to run it through his black hair just as she had taken to doing every time she came to see Branch. "Please…" The princess didn't know what possessed her but she leant over the sleeping King and pressed a tender kiss to his forehead. Poppy gave a surprised gasp, she took her hands away from the King and jumped back from him at the same time. She did this because for a moment when she had kissed Branch's forehead a bright blue light suddenly shone round his body however as soon as Poppy pulled back the light was quickly gone again, leaving the princess feeling bewildered and strangely on edge.

From somewhere Poppy managed to find her voice again but didn't touch the King this time. "Please let your soul brother tell me something about your sleep…Anything about it…Branch I'm begging you." The pink troll turned her eyes onto Creek, she gestured him over and the purple troll quickly went to her side. When he reached Poppy, she took both of his hands in to hers, the princess looked up at her old friend and spoke to him. "Please Creek talk to Branch, you said he can hear me, but he can't answer me…But Branch can answer you."

The spiritual troll gave her a nod. "All I can do is try asking Branch if he will let me help you."

"That's all I ask." Poppy said in a whisper as she released Creeks hands.

The purple troll slowly sat down on the branch in front of his soul brother, he settled into the lotus position, closed his eyes and stilled his thoughts before reaching out towards the other troll. _"Branch?"_

" _I am here…"_

" _Please Branch let me help Poppy."_ Creek said pleadingly to the other troll.

There was silence for a few moments which was eventually followed by a sigh from Branch. _"Alright, you can tell her I won't age or die while I sleep."_

" _Branch that is hardly likely to ease Poppy's pain and trust me she is in pain…"_

" _I know that I can hear the pain in her voice…"_ There was another silence before he spoke to Creek again. _"You can…You can tell Poppy…Tell her that if I have returned to me what I freely gave away then I will wake up."_

Surprised Creek took a deep breath, he had not expected Branch to make that much of concession but was thrilled that his soul brother had done so. _"I'll tell her."_ The purple troll promised the grey troll, quickly before Branch could think to regret allowing him to tell Poppy that much about his sleep and take back his permission Creek hastily brought his meditation to an end.

The purple troll opened his eyes to find the princess still standing beside Branch and watching him with hopeful eyes. "Well?" Poppy asked him her voice full of both hope and fear at the same time.

Creek stood up, he looked around to see that Buttercup had left them alone with Branch, which he was grateful for. The spiritual troll then turned his attention to the pink troll and addressed her. "Branch said I could tell you that he won't age or die while he sleeps." Poppy slumped forwards slightly as Creek spoke, she turned back towards Branch and looked at him with sad eyes. "But…" As the purple troll said but Poppy tore her eyes away from the grey troll back to his soul brother, who smiled at her and continued with what he had been about to say. "Branch also said I could tell you that in order to wake him, he must have what he freely gave returned to him."

"What he freely gave…A riddle…He gave you a riddle for the cure to this sleep of his…Branch knows that I hate riddles!" Poppy said with extreme aggravation.

Creek couldn't help the small laugh which escaped him. "I'm sorry Poppy I know I shouldn't laugh, but trust Branch to find a way to tell you how to wake him up that he knew you wouldn't find easy to solve."

"I swear it's almost like he wants to stay asleep."

The purple troll shook his head at the princess. "No Branch doesn't want to stay asleep…I think he just wants to make sure that whoever saves him does so freely…"

Poppy looked back down at the sleeping King, she placed both of her hands on her hips and glared at Branch. "Sometimes you can be far too stubborn for your own good…But I can't say that I don't understand that you don't want anyone to feel forced into saving you. Honestly though a riddle…You couldn't think of another way to tell me how to help you?"

"I'm sure that you will figure it out and at least having the riddle is better than knowing nothing." Creek said to the princess with a smile.

"Yes, that's true, doesn't mean I have to like it though."

"No, it doesn't." The purple troll said in agreement.

Together the two trolls left the area around the sleeping King, they parted ways a short while after they left Branch. As Creek made his way towards his own pod, the spiritual troll turned, he waved good bye to the princess as he walked away and Creek was glad to see that the pink troll was waving back at him. After waving good bye to the purple troll, Poppy then headed back to her pod her head was full of thoughts as to what the answer to the riddle was. The pink troll felt like screaming at the top of her voice, not only did she not have the answer to this riddle, she also still didn't have the answer to the question Creek had asked her.

Once she was inside her pod, the princess sat down on one of her bean bags and stared out of the window her pink eyes lost in thought. Branch left her with so many questions, why did she want him awake? What did the heart part of his mark mean? And why did she want Branch to be free of the grey curse he had carried for so long? As Poppy thought about these questions her mind focused on the King, the image of him sleeping bathed by the moonlight just as he had been that night when she had gone to him popped into her mind. The princess found that there was something about this picture that thrilled her and made Poppy feel warm inside. The pink troll shook her head in an attempt to clear it and focus on answering all of the questions that were rolling around in her mind. By the time the sun was going down over the troll tree Poppy still had no answers to any of the questions. Sighing the princess gave up trying to think for the night, she got up from the bean bag chair and went to bed hoping that sleeping on her problem might help her find the answers.

When Poppy drifted to sleep, the princess found herself doing something she didn't do often dreaming. The princess was on one of the branches of the troll tree at night, moonlight was illuminating the branches, then a voice from behind her had Poppy gasping and spinning around. "I gave it away freely. I want it returned to me freely."

"Branch…" The princess said with shock as she found him standing there behind her, then she placed her hands onto her hips and glared at Branch. "A riddle…You mean troll…You know I hate them!"

"Poppy I know you will solve my riddle and it's not much of a riddle you just need to remember…" He told her his eyes and voice soft as he spoke to her.

The pink troll frowned with confusion. "Remember…Remember what…? Is this even a dream or are you here with me?"

"I'm here…I've never done this before…I wasn't even sure I would be able to reach you." He confessed before Branch sat down on the branch they were standing on.

Poppy sat down next to him and asked. "How long can you do this for?"

The King shook his head. "I don't know…I'm guessing probably not for long and I doubt that I will be able to reach your dreams for a second time for quite a while."

"Thank you for this. I've missed being able to talk to you."

"You have?" The grey troll asked her with clear surprise.

"Yeah, I was surprised by that to, I didn't realise I would miss you until you weren't there any more…I feel so stupid…I took your presence in my life for granted and I am sorry for that. I wish I could talk to you more often."

"I wish I could talk to you more often too. So far though Creek has been the only one able to do so. His ability to meditate and his link to me as my soul brother have been what has allowed Creek to talk to me while I sleep…It's been a little lonely that I will admit but there isn't much I can do about the situation I am in."

"I'm sorry my father did this to you…" As she spoke Poppy sniffed.

Gently Branch took one of her hands into his, the grey troll gave it a squeeze and spoke to the princess. "Poppy look at me." The pink troll did as he directed and Branch addressed her again. "You don't need to be sorry. I want you to know that I'd do it all again in a heart beat. Your safe and that is what matters the most to me."

Poppy gave him a watery smile. "I know you don't like hugging…But…?" The pink troll took her hand from his and held her arms out open to him.

Branch gave her one of his rare half smiles and then hugged her. Poppy closed her arms round the grey troll, her fingers took hold of the back of his blue shirt and she let out a contented sigh. "Thank you…Thank you for coming to me and thank you for letting me hug you."

Slowly he drew back from the embrace, Branch kissed her forehead gently, the grey troll looked down at his dream form which was starting to fade. "Looks like my time is running out." Quickly Poppy lent in she kissed his forehead in return for his own and as he faded further Branch spoke once more. "You just need to remember Poppy then you will know the answer…" Then the grey troll was gone and Poppy was waking up to the morning chorus of the other trolls singing.

The princess lay in bed staring up at the ceiling without really focusing on anything and whispered to herself as she tried to work out what the grey troll had been trying to tell her. "Remember…I need to remember…What Branch gave away freely needs to be returned to him…Why can't I remember?" As Poppy asked herself these questions the princess felt a stab of pain in her heart that she hadn't felt for years when it came to Branch and she wondered why that feeling was back as well as what it meant.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten:

Poppy kept trying to remember what Branch had freely given up, but no matter how hard the princess tried the memory wouldn't come. The pain she had felt in her heart after that meeting in her dreams with Branch still festered, but the princess was starting to realise that this feeling of pain in her heart was because she cared for the grey troll a lot more than she had realised. The princess had told Creek about Branch's visit to her dream, the spiritual troll had been clearly surprised by this revelation but at the same time happy to hear that his soul brother had another troll to talk to even if those visits would be few and far between.

It was now two months since the King had visited her dreams, the pink princess wished that he would visit her dreams again but he hadn't yet. Branch had told her that he might not be able to do so again for some time, it appeared that it had taken a lot out of the King to come into her dreams. Poppy just hopped that the grey troll would be alright and that he would have the energy to be able to visit her, in her dreams again soon.

Today the princess was doing one of her favourite things, watching over the younger trolls, the children were playing together happily. Then Poppy noticed one little group to one side, they seemed to be acting something out, the princess assumed it was from one of the stories she told the children, Poppy had seen them do that before when they liked a particular part of one of her stories. Curious the pink troll walked over to them wanting to see which one of her stories they were playing out together. As Poppy got closer she realised that one of the male children was laying in the arms of another male who was on his knees and one of the female trolls was also kneeling along side them. The princess froze as she recognised this position from the day Branch had saved her and even as the child in the arms of the other said words similar to those the King had spoken that day his voice came back to her all at once. "I always knew this would happen if I used the one sided true love I held for you." Poppy let out a loud gasp, the children all turned to look at her and they all instantly crowded round the princess concerned for her.

"Princess Poppy are you alright?" Little Sky asked her.

The pink troll quickly shook herself out of her shock, smiled around at them all reassuringly and answered the question. "Yes, I'm alright I just remembered something important that's all."

Quiet how the she didn't leave right there and then to see Branch Poppy had no idea, but somehow she managed to wait until after the parents of the young trolls came to take them home, before she ran the whole way to were Branch was. When she reached the spot the princess was out of breath, she took a few moments to catch her breath, then Poppy pushed the leaves of the area aside, she was glad to find that there was no one else there. The princess walked forward letting the leaves fall back into place behind her, quietly the pink troll made her way to the side of the sleeping King, she placed her right hand onto his two and said to him softly. "I remember…I don't even know how I could forgot those words…True love…You used the true love you held for me to save both myself, the troll tree and all the other trolls. Even I know that is one of the most powerful things in the world and not something to be given away lightly. At least now I know that the only way you can wake is if that true love is returned…I feel like such an idiot all this time…All this time you have been waiting for the love you'd give so freely to be given back to you. Oh Branch…No wonder you wanted to make sure that whoever saved you did so by themselves. You gave up so much for me…I don't deserve it…Thank you." Tears started to roll down her cheeks, the pink troll shook as sobs welled up and forced their way passed her lips.

A few moments later purple arms closed round her from behind in a gentle hug, as she continued to weep, Poppy leant back against the other troll and moved her hand from on top of those of the grey troll to touch the spiritual troll's arm. "You worked out the answer to his riddle, didn't you?" Creek asked her softly.

Poppy gave him a nod and choked out. "Oh Creek…I've cost Branch so much…First his colours and now…Now this…"

The purple troll hugged her a little tighter. "When you truly love someone as Branch does you, then you'll willingly give up everything you have to see them happy and safe. My soul brother wouldn't want to see you cry…"

The princess spoke to Creek through her tears. "True love…That's what the poppy heart stood for all this time…Why…Why didn't I see that I'm such an idiot…I can't stop crying…There not tears for me though, there for Branch…"

"Oh Poppy…" Creek said softly.

A few moments later Poppy managed to stop crying, but then with tears still on her cheeks the princess suddenly burst out with. "He's never going to wake up is he?! I'm never going to get to see Branch smile properly, I'm never going to see what his true colours are or hear him sing am I? I'm never going to hear his voice again except in my dreams am I?"

The spiritual troll sighed deeply and shook his head. "I don't know Poppy, I just don't know…True love is such a rare thing, it's impossible to say how long it will be before a troll falls truly in love with Branch and is willing to show that love to him. But now we both know the cure to both the sleep and the grey curse we can make sure that our people know how to wake the great King, between us we can sew the seed of hope and we can keep hoping in our own hearts that someday some troll will truly love Branch."

"True love cures both of his curses…Poor Branch." After she said this Poppy lifted her left hand to her chest, she placed it on the same spot over her heart were Branch had pushed the blue flame into her. "The fire of true love always burns the brightest." The princess said softly.

"I've never heard that said before." Creek admitted.

"It was something my mother told me before she passed away…It's something I've never forgotten…" Poppy said her voice very soft as she let her hand drop back to her side.

Slowly the purple troll smiled at the one he was still hugging. "It sounds like your mother was a very wise troll."

"Thank you. If only I had been wiser…He loves me…How long has Branch been truly in love with me Creek?"

"I first suspected something when we were nineteen…But only had my suspicions about Branch's feelings for you confirmed when we were twenty one, so six years now."

"Six years…" Poppy choked out. "Why…Why didn't Branch ever tell me?"

"He didn't tell you because Branch knew that you were in love with me and he cares for us both too much to stand between us."

"I told him though months ago that I don't love you…At least not as anything more than a brother. It hurts Creek…"

"What hurts?" The spiritual troll asked her gently as he released her from the hug and came to stand next to the princess so he would not block her view of Branch.

Poppy answered his question quickly. "Seeing Branch like this…Knowing someday I'm going to lose him to some other troll…That she'll marry him, give Branch children…That she will get to see his true smile, see Branch's true colours and hear him sing…The idea hurts so much that I can't even find the words to say how much it pains me to think of that happening. I want to see Branch awake so desperately…But the thought of losing him to another is so painful…I don't understand why it should be so painful for me…I should be happy that Branch has the hope of waking up someday but…But all I feel is this horrible stabbing pain that won't go away."

Creek looked at the princess with compassionate blue eyes and asked. "Where do you feel this pain?"

The pink troll lifted her hand, she placed it once more to her chest over her heart and said softly to the other troll. "Here…It always hurts here…It has for years…The pain went away for a while and then it came back."

"I'd be willing to bet that the pain went away when Branch realised he was truly in love with you and that it came back when he fell asleep. You didn't feel that pain for almost six years, did you?"

"No I didn't…Creek what does it mean?" Poppy asked him turning wide vulnerable pink eyes onto the troll standing beside her.

"It means I'm an idiot." He said before he started to pace back and forth. "Hairballs I should have seen it…I should have thought to check! I'm such an idiot!"

"Creek please your frightening me."

The purple troll turned to the princess and raked his fingers into his two tone hair. "Sorry Poppy I didn't mean to scare you, it's just I can't believe I didn't think to even ask you if you were hurting when I knew about the bond between the two of you."

"Bond? What bond?"

Creek sat down on the branch, he gestured for Poppy to join him which she did and then explained his words to her. "You may or may not know this but my father was the keeper of the troll lore, he passed all his knowledge on to me and one of the things he taught me about were the great Kings. If a great King chooses to protect another troll it forms a bond between them, simply called a protection bond. Now this bond allows things to pass between the two members, now this pain is your pain, but when Branch realised he was truly in love with you it made his powers even stronger than before and he somehow shielded you from that pain."

"But what is this pain Creek?"

"Only you can discover that Poppy, but I think deep down in your heart you already know what it is and you're just too scared to admit it."

"If I have this bond with Branch which allows things to pass between us, then would it be possible for me to be able to talk to him as you do?" Poppy asked her pink eyes full of hope.

Creek tilted his head to one side and thought for a few moments before answering this question. "Well I don't know but…It might be possible. The only problem I can see is that the only two ways I know of contacting Branch or through dreams or through meditation. The reason why I call it a problem is the dreams require him to reach out to you, we know Branch can't do that often and as for meditation you don't exactly like to sit still for long periods of time which meant I only ever taught you short mediations."

"If learning to meditate for a longer time will mean I can talk to Branch then I'm willing to try. Please Creek."

The purple troll let out a deep sigh. "Alright, I'll show you how but I can't promise that it will mean you can talk to Branch."

"Thank you for agreeing to teach me, can we start now?" Poppy asked him in eager tones.

Creek chuckled at the princess's eagerness. "I don't see why not."

So it was that Creek started to teach Poppy to meditate for longer periods in the hopes that she would also be able to talk to Branch. The purple troll was very much hoping that the princess would be able to learn to meditate for longer and talk to his soul brother because Creek knew that of all the trolls Poppy was the one most likely to be able to get Branch to open up more. The spiritual troll hoped that if that happened then maybe, just maybe Poppy would start to realise that the pain in her heart was because she loved Branch just as much as he loved her.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven:

It took Poppy just over a month to master meditating, it took her this long because it really wasn't in the princess's nature to sit still for long. By that time the year anniversary of Branch entering into his enchanted sleep was looming large on the horizon, right along with her birthday. The pink troll had been determined that she would learn to meditated for longer periods of time so that she could try talking to him on that day. Poppy had already told her friends that she would be with the grey troll on the morning of her birthday and that she would celebrate her birthday with them in the afternoon. The members of the snack pack had understood Poppy's desire to try to make contact with the King on that particular day and none of them had anything to say against their friend making such an attempt. So, it was that on the morning of the day of the anniversary of the grey troll falling into his sleep, Poppy was sitting alone in the lotus position before Branch facing towards were he lay, unlike Creek who usually meditated with his back to his soul brother in case he needed to defend the King. The princess reached her thoughts out towards Branch, suddenly she felt a warmth round her and the voice of the grey troll came into her own thoughts. _"Who are you?"_

" _Branch it's Poppy."_

" _Poppy?"_ He questioned with clear surprise.

" _Yes, I asked Creek to teach me to meditate for a longer space of time in the hopes that my bond to you as the one you protect would be enough to allow me to be able to talk to you and it looks like it is."_

" _I didn't know that was possible. It feels good to talk to you again, I'm sorry I haven't been able to come into your dreams…I was going to try again soon. Did you want to talk to me about anything in particular?"_

" _Yes, I do have something important which I want to talk to you about. Now that I know how to cure your curses, I would like your permission to be able to have it recorded so that the information doesn't become lost over time."_

" _You have my permission."_

" _Thank you my King."_

" _Poppy you are my friend, you do not need to use my title."_

Poppy smiled slightly to herself glad to know that Branch didn't want her using his title. _"It feels a little strange to just be talking to you without being able to see you, but at least I get to talk to you now. Creek said you've been truly in love with me for six years is that true?"_

" _Yes, it's true."_

" _Will that effect your ability to wake up?"_ Poppy asked him with concern.

There was silence for a few moments and just when the princess was beginning to think that she had wither lost her connection to Branch or he wasn't going to answer her the answer to her question came at last. _"Yes, it will…I am truly in love with you, so it is going to mean that accepting another troll in your place within my heart is going to be difficult for me, but not impossible. Still that troll would have to be constant in their love of me and their love would have to equal the true love I gave to save you."_

" _I see…It sounds really complicated."_

" _Most magic that involves true love is complicated…It is a very rare thing after all, but it works miracles as you have seen yourself."_

" _Yes I did get to see it work a miracle…I hope I will get to see true love work another one sometime soon?"_

" _Oh, what miracle did you have in mind?"_ Branch asked curiosity clear in his voice as he asked the question.

" _If I'm honest it's more like miracles…I'd like to see you awake again and I'd like to see your true colours…I know both of these things can only happen when true love is given to you but still…"_

" _Thank you for wishing for that to happen to me Poppy."_

The princess could hear the gratefulness in his voice and felt herself smiling again. _"I know that someday true love is going to find you Branch and then you will be free of both of the spells that bind you. I've been here quite a while I should go."_

" _Thank you for giving me hope Poppy and for coming to visit I hope you will visit again soon."_

" _I will come to talk to you again soon."_ The pink troll promised before she brought the meditation to an end. Poppy sat in silence for a few moments, before she stood up and looked down at the sleeping form of the great King.

As she looked at him that pain came back, Poppy lifted her left hand, she touched it to the spot on her chest over her heart and realisation started to set in on the princess at last. This pain she realized was always associated to Branch, it was worse when she thought about the fact he might never wake up or be woken by a troll who was not herself. Slowly Poppy's mouth opened but no words came out, the princess closed her mouth again as her thoughts somersaulted over themselves, it wasn't possible was it? She couldn't be in love with Branch…Could she? The answer to those questions when it came was a simple yes, it had Poppy reeling and her pink eyes widening. The princess didn't know when it had happened exactly or how but the pink troll knew without a doubt that she loved Branch, she had for loved him possibly even longer than he had loved her. But was it true love? Even as this question entered her mind it was squashed by the memory of dancing with him at her party and of that small half smile which had always made her heart flutter.

Poppy put her head into her hands, she let out a groan and the princess wondered how could she have been so stupid or so blind to her own feelings for the grey troll. Slowly the pink troll let her hands drop from her face, she looked at Branch again and then placed her right hand onto his two. Poppy took a deep breath she felt so nervous and this feeling just confirmed to the princess that she loved Branch. The pink troll let the breath out, then she started to sing, she sung to him of her love for him, of how beautiful she was sure his true colours would be and as she sung Poppy's pink eyes went wide as the grey troll began to glow blue again. This time the blue light unlike last time didn't fade from Branch, instead sky blue light raced along his body obliterating the grey colour of his skin, then sapphire blue washed up through his hair which grew longer and when the colour reached the top of the King's hair blue sparkles left the hair filling the air around the princess.

As Poppy looked down at her hand on his now glowing blue ones and the pink troll realized that she was now glowing pink just as she had been when Branch had saved her all that time ago. Slowly the princess smiled to herself, he was such wonderful shades of blue, it was so unusual to see a troll with these colourings and they confirmed Creek had been right, one of Branch's ancestors had been royal as this particular colouring was known as royal blue. "Blue…Your royal blue…Oh Branch, you are so handsome. I love you…I truly do love you Branch." As she spoke these words, Poppy placed her left hand back to the spot on her chest were the Branch had pushed the blue flame into her heart and this time when she drew it away a pink flame was sitting in her hand. "The fire of true love always burns the brightest…Now I know what my mother was trying to tell me…" As she spoke Poppy carefully lowered the flame towards the chest of the sleeping King and then pressed it into his chest over his heart. "Please wake up." She said to him softly.

A few moments passed and just when Poppy was beginning to think it had not worked Branch let out a small noise. She watched with wonder in her eyes as the two tendrils around his wrists retracted and when they were completely gone the pink troll took one of his hands into hers, she lifted it to her lips and kissed the back of it. "That's it Branch, I love you please wake up." Slowly the tendril at the King's waist released him, the grey troll let out another waking noise and as he did this the princess watched with joy as the fingers of the hand she was holding closed slowly round her own. A few moments later the tendrils at the ankles of the King retreated back into the tree leaving only the one at his neck.

Gradually Branch's blue eyes opened, they focused on Poppy standing beside him and he frowned slightly with confusion. "Poppy?"

"Yes, my true love I am here. I love you I truly do Branch." As she spoke these words to the still glowing blue troll his eyes widened and the tendril at his neck let him go.

Poppy moved her left hand from where it had remained laid against his chest to cup his cheek and stroke it gently. "I love you Branch."

"I love you Poppy." As the blue troll confessed this his blue eyes were full of the love he held for the princess and in that moment Poppy realised that had been what she had seen in his eyes the day when Branch had helped the troll tree to grow.

The princess smiled widely at him, to her those were the sweetest words that she had ever heard and she wanted to hear him say them again. "Say that again."

Branch smiled up at her and Poppy wanted to melt under the warmth of his first full smile. "I love you Poppy."

The pink troll reluctantly moved her hands away from Branch and took a step back from him in order to allow him to get up. Slowly the great King of the trolls rose from where he had been resting for so long, once he was on his feet Branch smoothly sheathed his sword and then stretched. Suddenly realising for the first time that he was glowing blue the King looked down at himself and gave a start of surprise. Poppy watched with amusement dancing in her eyes as he held up a now blue hand and looked at it for a few moments with shock. "I'm blue again…" He said with awe in his voice before looking at Poppy as the light started to fade from them both.

"Yes…Royal blue to be precise my King." As she spoke to him the princess sunk down into the lowest and most formal of curtsies before the great King and moved her eyes to look respectfully at the floor instead of Branch.

"Poppy I told you before you don't need to use my title." Despite his words Poppy staid were she was. Branch let out a growl of aggravation, he walked the short distance to Poppy, the blue troll held out a hand where he knew despite her lowered gaze she could see it. The princess took the hand, the blue King helped her to stand up, Branch glared down at the other troll and said to her. "Don't do that again."

"But I don't have a choice, you are the great King." The blue troll let out another growl, that noise had they eyes of the princess widening and the next thing Poppy knew she was being kissed fiercely. The pink troll let out a small whimper, she had never been kissed like this before and Poppy knew that he could over power her with ease yet Branch wasn't. The princess closed her eyes, she put her arms round Branch, Poppy took hold of his shirt gripping it tightly before she started to return his kiss. The King cradled the back of Poppy's head with his left hand and ran the fingers of his right into the pink hair of the princess causing her to shiver with delight.

When Branch broke the kiss Poppy let out a groan of disappointment, her eyes opened to find the great King watching her closely with a burning gaze. "You are not going to go around using my title, or calling me your majesty and you are most certainly not curtsying to me every time we meet. You are my true love and the princess of this tree!"

"But the laws state only your family members or adopted family members such as Creek have no need to show you the respect you title demands."

Branch let out another growl. "Poppy stop it now and before you ask, yes that is a royal command."

"Yes your majesty." The pink troll said with a cheeky smile for the other troll.

The blue King shook his head at the princess as he released her from his hold and said to her. "Honestly Poppy…What am I going to do with you?"

"Oh, I have an idea." Poppy said softly, taking one of his hands into hers and looking up at him.

"Really care to share?" He asked her curiously.

"Well you could kiss me again and then tell the whole troll tree that we are getting married."

The King raised both eyebrows at Poppy. "Are you trying to tell me what you would like me to propose marriage to you?"

"Yes I am. I am not about to let some other troll marry you. You my true love are completely off limits to any troll but me." The princess said with complete sincerity.

"I'll think about asking you to marry me at some point." Branch said with laughter dancing in his eyes.

Poppy couldn't help but grin at him as the blue troll teased her for the first time. "You'll only think about it?"

"Well I have only been awake a short while and maybe after I have been awake for a while you might decide that you don't want to be married to me."

"That is not going to happen. You are mine my true love." As she spoke Poppy put her fingers between his and started to pull the King along with her as she set off into the troll tree.

When the other trolls noticed the two trolls walking along, they instantly moved aside for them, and bowed or curtsied to the great King as went passed them. The blue troll tried not to blush, he wasn't use to all this attention or all of the other trolls treating him so respectfully. Poppy tried not to laugh at how clearly uncomfortable Branch was with all of this, she knew that the chosen great King hadn't been brought up with all the rigmarole of royal life so it was understandable that he would be uncomfortable with his new situation and station in life. The other trolls had started to follow the two trolls through the troll tree and by the time the great King and the princess reached the main area before the troll tree the whole tree was waiting there for them.

Smiling Creek stepped forward, he bowed to Branch. "Branch great King of the trolls." As soon as the purple troll said these words all of the gathered trolls bowed or curtsied towards the blue troll.

Branch took a deep breath, Poppy slowly took her hand out of his, she gave the blue troll a nod and said to him softly. "You can do this Branch I know you can. The troll tree wouldn't have chosen you if you couldn't and I am more than willing to help and guide you learn to rule in any way I can."

The great King gave her a small nod, he stepped forward, Branch looked round at all of the trolls standing before him and then addressed them for the first time as their great King. "I take my place today as the great King of the trolls and I promise that I shall rule you all with wisdom and justice. With the assistance of princess Poppy and my soul brother Creek I shall strive to make sure that no harm comes to any of you, that all of you are as happy as it is possible to be and that we are always prepared for anything that may come be it good or bad." The trolls cheered, Branch smiled round at them, then at Poppy and Creek who now stood each side of him. "Now I think we should do something we are good at PARTY!"

The trolls cheered again, soon music was blaring, the trolls were dancing and singing, Branch was dancing with Poppy, Creek and the other members of the snack pack and they were all glad to see the now blue troll clearly enjoying himself properly for the first time in a long time. When a slow started to play Branch smiled mischievously as he pushed Creek towards Suki, the purple troll turned a glare onto his soul brother who just smiled at him. The spiritual troll took a deep breath, he then walked over to were Suki was standing and held a hand out to the orange haired troll. "Will you dance with me?"

"I'd like that." The DJ said with a smile, she took Creek's hand and let his guide her out onto the dancefloor.

Poppy mean while had taken hold of Branch's hands and the two of them were out on the dancefloor dancing the waltz together. The princess lay her head against the chest of the blue troll's chest and Branch smiled down at the troll in his arms. "I love you." He said to her softly.

The pink troll looked up at him and smiled gently. "And I love you."

As the party wound down, Poppy found Branch and Creek together and couldn't help but over hear their conversation. "I hope you won't mind me staying in the spare room of your pod for the night Creek." Branch said to the other troll.

"Of cause not, after all you don't have your own pod yet." The purple troll said to the King with a smile.

The blue King sighed deeply and then said. "I'll have to look for one of my own soon…I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"You could always move into mine." The princess said as she joined the other two trolls.

Branch looked at the pink troll. "Poppy we are not a married couple so that is not going to happen."

Poppy gave the blue troll a cheeky smile. "I didn't know you could be so old fashioned."

The King refused to rise to her bait, instead he just rolled his eyes at Poppy and then walked away from her with his brother at his side to get some sleep. The princess watched him going grinning to herself, she was so very glad that Branch was awake, free of being grey and that he was her true love. Poppy made her way through the tree to her own pod so that she could get her own sleep for the night. As she settled down for the night the princess wondered what it was going to be like when she heard Branch sing, Poppy hoped he would sing soon. The pink troll had to admit that not knowing what Branch's singing voice sounded like was driving her crazy with curiosity.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve:

When morning found the troll tree all the trolls were singing in the morning, well all save their King who was instead sitting in the main room of Creek's pod listening to him sing. When the purple troll finished singing Branch spoke to him. "I've never heard you sing so joyfully before now."

"Well I have a good reason to be joyful, my soul brother is awake once more and no longer grey. You know your colouring is really quiet stunning. I'd always thought that one of your colours would be blue because of your eyes, but I never thought that you would be royal blue."

"Royal blue, I assume it is called that's because one of the former Kings had my colours?"

Creek shook his head at the other troll. "No, it wasn't just one of the Kings who had the same colours as you, nearly all of the great Kings have had your colours hence it being called royal blue."

Branch smiled at his soul brother. "It appears you have been studying your lore a lot more."

The purple troll shrugged slightly before answering the other troll. "Some troll has to keep all the old stories and history of the tribe alive. Besides looking back over all of the books my father wrote has made me feel a lot closer to the father I only knew for a short time."

"I don't even remember my mother and father…" Branch admitted sadly.

"You never have talked about what happened to them." Creek said gently as he settled on the sofa next to the other troll.

Branch's eyes took on a faraway look and when he started to speak it was slowly and softly. "They both caught a very virulent strain of the winter flu, so did I, but I survived and my mother and father didn't. I've never actually caught the winter flu since then…The healers say that I'm immune to all forms of it, they have been trying for years to replicate my immunity to help other trolls who become sick with winter flu but so far they've had no luck. What about your father, I know you lost him when you were eight and I know it wasn't to the winter flu, so what happened?"

Creek let out a sigh and then spoke. "Dad was stung by a kettle wasp and well…I'm sure you know how poisonous they are."

"Yes, I do know." Branch assured him with compassion.

The purple troll shook himself out of his melancholy thoughts and then said to his brother. "So, when are you planning to sing for the first time?"

The King let out a groan. "Not any time soon if I can help it."

"Oh, come on your voice can't be that bad." Creek said rolling his eyes at the other troll.

"What if it is that bad? I haven't sung since my childhood, so for all either of us know my singing voice could sound like a night cat's calling."

The spiritual troll shot the King a disbelieving look. "You're a troll, there is no way that any troll is going to have a singing voice which is that bad."

Branch chuckled slightly. "I suppose there is really only one way to find out isn't there?" Smiling widely Creek gave the blue troll a nod, Branch took a breath, he let it out and then began to sing softly. As the King sang an old lullaby his grandma use to sing to him, he was unaware that the eyes of the purple troll sitting next to him were getting wider and wider, Creek had to admit that he had never heard such an amazing voice before.

When Branch finished his song, the purple troll grinned widely at him and said. "Wow…Just wow…Poppy is going to go crazy when she hears you sing. One of her biggest wishes has been to know what your singing voice sounds like. I'm going to tease her so badly about how fantastic it is now I've heard it."

The blue troll chuckled slightly at these words from his brother and then said. "I didn't know I could sing that well. It's a relief to know my voice isn't terrible."

"Well…Well does not cover that voice of yours." Creek told him and this time Branch laughed openly, a few moments later Creek joined him, eventually the soul brothers stopped laughing but it took quite some time. Together they ate breakfast, during which the spiritual troll told the King that he and Suki were now dating, news which Branch greeted with great joy. Once they had finished breakfast the two trolls left the purple troll's pod, as they walked through the troll tree and any troll they met along the way moved aside for them before they promptly bowed or curtsied to Branch. Creek tried not to laugh as his soul brother's aggravation at his situation grew, however at the same time the purple troll was sure he was the only one who would be able to tell that the great King was aggravated. The spiritual troll was impressed that Branch was acting the way that the great King of the trolls should act, he was holding in his aggravation and acknowledging the obeisance of other trolls with a slight bow of his head as he passed them. "You're doing well Branch." Creek told his soul brother in a whisper.

"Thank you…It still all feels so odd." Branch whispered back to the other troll. When the blue troll noticed Poppy standing with the rest of the snack pack, he made his way over to them. As the members of the snack pack noticed who was coming towards them, they all instantly curtsied and bowed to the King causing Poppy to turn around. "Good morning Poppy." Branch said in greeting.

"Good morning Branch."

The King looked at the rest of his friends who had now straitened up from their obeisance, he sighed softly and then addressed them. "Good morning to you all."

They all returned their Kings greeting, Branch then started talking to them all about various things that were on his mind to do with the way the troll tree was run. Mean while Creek had walked over to the side of the princess and spoken to Poppy with a wide smile on his face. "I got a very pleasant surprise this morning."

"Oh really what was that?" The princess asked him clearly curious.

"Branch sang…It was amazing." The purple told her his eyes full of glee as he did so.

Poppy glared at her friend, she then looked at the blue troll who was talking about something with the other members of the snack pack and said to the spiritual troll. "You know I've wanted to hear Branch sing for ages! Did you really have to tease me about hearing him?" Creek nodded in answer to this question, but before he could say anything Poppy spoke to the other troll again. "Was it really amazing?"

"Yes it really was." Creek assured her grinning at the pink troll.

Realising that he was being talked about Branch came over to were Poppy and Creek were standing together, he looked from one troll to the other before asking. "What are the two of you saying about me?"

"I was just telling Poppy all about your singing…" The purple troll told his soul brother with a grin.

Branch shook his head at the other troll. "Honestly Creek."

"What?" The purple troll asked with false innocence.

The King shook his head again. "Only you my soul brother."

"But since Creek has heard you sing now, will you sing for me too?" Poppy asked the King smiling widely at him.

Slowly the blue troll smiled back at Poppy. "Alright…" Branch, closed his eyes and then began to sing true colours the song which Poppy had sung to him just before he had woken from the enchanted sleep. As the King sung, he was totally unaware of the whole troll tree falling quiet to listen to him sing or that Poppy and the rest of the snack pack staring at him wide eyed and open mouthed. As Branch finished singing, he opened his eyes, the blue troll looked round at the other trolls, he blinked at them and then said with confusion in his voice. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

After a long silence, Poppy spoke up with awe in her voice. "You sing like an angel."

Creek grinned at his soul brother. "See I told you that you had an incredible voice." As the purple troll said this Branch laughed.

"Oh, we are so going to have to get you to sing at the next party." Suki said to the new King.

The blue troll put his head to one side. "I'm not so sure that I would want to sing in front of the whole tribe Suki."

"Considering the whole tree has already heard you sing, I don't think you are going to get much choice." Creek told Branch with a wide grin for his soul brother.

"King Branch." As soon as Peppy spoke from behind Branch, the blue troll stiffened and turned to face the former King of the trolls.

"Greetings Peppy." Branch said with formality to the older troll.

Poppy moved to stand at the left shoulder of the great King while Creek moved to stand at his right, while the rest of the snack pack hovered behind him protectively. Peppy bowed to Branch, who acknowledged this with a small inclination of his head, the former King then addressed the blue troll. "I see you are awake great King."

"Yes, I have woken from my enchanted slumber and I am starting to get use to ruling the trolls. Your daughter has already kindly offered to help me should I need it."

"I see, I will not apologise for what I did…I believed that it was necessary at the time." The older troll told the younger.

Branch looked down at the former King for a long while before he addressed Peppy. "I do not expect you to apologise, I understand why you took the actions you did."

"Come King Branch there is much to do now you are returned to us." Creek said smoothly ending the conversation between the two trolls.

"You are correct my soul brother." The great King gave Peppy another polite bow of the head before he walked away with the snack pack following close behind him.

Once they were out of earshot of the old troll Branch spoke to Poppy. "Your father is not pleased I am awake."

"I could tell." The pink troll said with a deep sigh.

The great King took her hand into his, gave it a squeeze and then smiled at the princess. "Don't worry I'm not going to let your father intimidate me."

Poppy squeezed his hand back and then said to Branch. "I'm glad to hear it."

Creek added his voice to the conversation. "Great Kings aren't chosen without reason. You have a lot of skills that we as a tribe will need to secure our future."

Poppy smiled at the Branch and squeezed his hand for a second time. "Don't forget you promised me that you would teach other trolls how to fight as you did for me and I am sure that Creek won't mind also teaching those that wish to learn how to meditate and do yoga too."

"Of cause, I won't mind." Creek assured the princess.

After the purple troll had spoken Branch then said. "I didn't forget my promise to you Poppy. I have to admit that I have wondered why the troll tree chose me to be the great King. After all I'm a survivalist, I plan for worst case scenarios, and I am a warrior. Let's face it our tribe hasn't needed any of those skills for generations."

The purple troll smiled at his soul brother and then said to him. "But don't you see Branch that is why you were chosen. We need a King who can plan for our future and for any eventualities, a King who can tell us what is safe to eat, how to store foods for the winter or any lean times and how to make healing potions and other remedies. As you said we haven't had warriors in our tribe for centauries and personally I think that having some trolls around that are trained to fight will stand us in good stead well into the future."

"Thank you, that makes me feel a little less like I was chosen completely by accident." The blue troll stopped walking, he let go of Poppy's hand and looked around the area they were in. "You know this spot right here would make a good place to turn over to fields, there is a good water source nearby and it's not too far away from the troll tree to make working here dangerous to any of the trolls. The good thing is that by starting to grow some of our own food we wouldn't having to keep risking going into the forest to forage for food all of the time."

Poppy smiled at the one she loved and then said to him. "See Branch this is why you were chosen." As the princess spoke the other members of the snack pack all nodded at him which caused the great King to blush.

By the time Branch had been ruling the trolls for two years he had shown himself to be the kind of King they needed, the blue troll did his best to keep his people safe and happy, he was also a wise and just ruler to the trolls. The blue troll had taught his survival skills to the other trolls, making sure to show them what plants were safe to eat, as well as which ones had medicinal properties and how to store them for the future. The great King with the help of Creek had also implemented a program to teach those trolls who wished to learn how to fight, these warriors had been named by the tribe as the blue guards in honour of their founder. There was also new a system of fields and farming near to the troll tree in order to help to make sure that the trolls would always have enough food and not have to rely purely on what they could forage any more.

Poppy had enjoyed watching Branch become worthy of the title great King and he was everything which her father had never been and the pink troll found that she also admired the way that the one she loved ruled the trolls. Poppy found watching Branch work his magic fascinating, she was glad that the great King no longer felt that he had to hide his magic from her or the other trolls and instead now worked his magic openly. The princess recalled the first time since the waking of the blue troll that he had used his magic in front of her, she had broken a vase and before she could start to pick up the glass fragments Branch's hand on hers stopped her. The princess had looked up at him curiously, the blue troll had smiled at her, then made a sweeping gesture with his free hand towards the broken vase and Poppy had watched with amazement as they began to glow blue, the vase had put its self back together and then been placed back on top of the shelf by the blue light.

Branch and Poppy as well as Creek and Suki had been dating for the same two years, the whole of the troll tree was hoping that these two couples would soon marry. Of cause as Branch was the great King his and Poppy's relationship was one which drew a lot more attention and hope from the other trolls. Although Poppy understood why the great King wanted to make sure that they had time to get to know each other better before they thought about getting married, the princess had to admit she was also hoping that Branch would actually ask her to marry him soon, as the pink troll felt that more than enough time had passed now for their relationship to be well grounded. Poppy also found it more than slightly aggravating that according to the ancient laws Branch as the great King had to propose to her and that she could not ask him. Lately Poppy had been feeling even more on edge as Creek had asked Suki to marry him, the DJ had of cause said yes and now plans were already underway for their wedding. This seemed to have set every female troll's mind onto getting married and in the mind of the princess far too many of those singles had set their sights on winning the King's heart away from her. Poppy was extremely glad that Branch and she shared true love as this meant that his heart belonged only to her.

Today Poppy was sitting beside Branch as he held one of his formal tribe meetings, this was a place to air grievances, ask for the Kings judgement on matters, as well as a time to suggest new ideas and discuss anything else that needed to be discussed between all the members of the tribe. The princess felt that the introduction of this regular formal meeting had been a stroke of genius on Branch's part, as it allowed for a healthy space and time for things to be openly spoken about with their wise King there as the fair arbitrator he was. As the meeting was starting to draw to a close, Branch stood, instantly the whole tribe fell silent and waited for the blue troll to address them. The great King held his right hand out towards Poppy, the princess stood up, she went to his side and took his right hand into her left. Branch turned to face the pink troll, he smiled at the one he loved for a moment then slowly the King got down onto one knee in front of the princess. Poppy gasped, she covered her mouth with her free hand and stared down at the other troll, who smiled up at her softly. "Poppy my true love will you marry me?"

The pink troll quickly took her hand away from her mouth so she could answer the question she had longed to hear the King ask her. "Yes…Yes!" As the princess spoke her answer, the tribe started to cheer and at the same time Branch placed onto her middle finger a beautiful white gold ring topped with a posy of sapphire stones. Poppy looked down at the ring on her finger, she had never seen a ring so beautiful before and she had a funny feeling this was one which Branch had made just for her.

The great King rose to his feet, as he did so he swept Poppy up into his arms and twirled her round in the air in a full circle, before settling her back down onto her feet. Giggling the princess threw her arms round Branch, she hugged him for only a few moments before pulling back and uncaring of the presence of the rest of the tribe kissed him. The blue troll quickly responded to her actions by closing his arms more tightly round the one he loved and starting to return the kiss. Poppy let out a hum of contentment as Branch started to kiss her back and drew her close to his body. It was the noise of the cheering growing louder around them which eventually drew the couple apart, they both chuckled and then hand in had left the tribe meeting to spend a little time alone together as a newly betrothed couple.

Branch and Poppy had refused to have their wedding before Creek and Suki had theirs, as they did not want their wedding to over shadow that of the other two trolls. The wedding of this first couple was a simple but intimate affair, Branch had acted as Creeks best man and Poppy had to admit he cut quiet the dashing figure in the dark blue suite he had worn for the occasion. Creek himself had been dressed in a smart dark purple suite of his own, with an orange and pink red flower pinned to the lapel to match his bride's colours. The princess along with Smidge, Satin and Chenille had been bridesmaids, Suki had dressed them all in classy pale lavender dresses. The DJ's own wedding dress was a simple white classic dress with flattering lines and she had carried a simple bouquet of lavender in honour of her groom. The party after the wedding was the polar opposite of the wedding ceremony, as the whole of the troll tree had been invited to celebrate with the newly married couple, which meant that the party lasted well into the night and that when morning found the troll tree everything was a lot quieter than it normally was.

Six months later Poppy and Branch were the couple getting married, this wedding was a large grand affair fitting for the great King of the trolls. The wedding ceremony and Poppy's crowing as the troll Queen was conducted with the whole of the troll tree in attendance. As the ceremonies were completed cheers rang round the troll tree, the new troll Queen placed her hand into that of her King and together the royal couple walked through the troll tree towards the clearing at the base of the tree. When they arrived in the clearing, the newly weds went out onto the dancefloor and as true colours began to play, they danced a slow waltz together while their people watched on respectfully silent during this dance. When the music of this song came to an end, Branch and Poppy stopped dancing, they left the dance floor hand in hand. A new much more upbeat song started to play and the floor filled with revellers eager to have a good time and to celebrate the most anticipated wedding the troll tree had ever known. If any of the trolls happened to notice that the King and his new Queen didn't stay long at the party being held in their honour then they were wise enough not to mention it.


End file.
